Waubgeshig Rice is an Anishinaabe writer and journalist from the Wasauksing First Nation near Parry Sound, Ontario, in Canada. Rice has been recognized for his work throughout Canada, including an appearance at Wordfest's 2018 Indigenous Voices Showcase in Calgary.
Career
Journalism
Waubgeshig Rice began his journalism career when he spent a year in Germany on a student exchange program, and wrote a series of articles about his experience for the First Nations newspaper Anishinabek News. He graduated from Ryerson University in 2002, and began working as a freelance journalist for media outlets such as The Weather Network and Wasauksing's community radio stationCHRZ-FM before joining the CBC's local news bureau in Winnipeg in 2006 and transferring to Ottawa in 2010. With the CBC, he was a contributor to the radio and television documentary series ReVision Quest and 8th Fire. In 2014, he received the Debwewin Citation for Excellence in First Nations Storytelling from the Union of Ontario Indians. He became the new host of Up North, CBC Radio One's local afternoon show on CBC Northern Ontario, in 2018, and has been heard on the national CBC Radio network as a guest host of Unreserved. He left the CBC in 2020 to concentrate on writing.
Writing
Rice published the short story collectionMidnight Sweatlodge in 2011, and the novel Legacy in 2014. His second novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, was published in October 2018 by ECW Press, and the audiobook was narrated by actor Billy Merasty and released in December 2018.
Books
Drum making : a guide for the Anishinaabe hand drum. Ed. Suzanne Methot... Owen Sound, ON: Ningwakwe Learning Press.
Laughter is Good Medicine: Don Burnstick... Owen Sound, ON: Ningwakwe Learning Press.
Midnight Sweatlodge... Short stories.
Legacy. . Novel.
Moon of the Crusted Snow... Novel.
Chapters, Forewords, and Translations
Brian D. McInnes. Sounding Thunder: The Stories of Francis Pegahmagabow Foreword by Waubgeshig Rice.
Ed. Warren Cariou, Katherena Vermette, Niigaan James Sinclair.. Impact: Colonialism in Canada. Manitoba : Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre Inc.. "Undercover" by Waubgeshig Rice.
Le legs d'Eva: roman. tr. Gonny, Marie-Jo... Ottawa, ON: Éditions David. Translation of Legacy.
Wood engravings by Alan Stein. On Spirit Lake: Georgian Bay Stories.. "Manido-gaming" by Waubgeshig Rice. Parry Sound, Ontario: The Church Street Press.
Ed. Karen Schauber.. The Group of Seven reimagined : contemporary stories inspired by historic Canadian paintings.. Book chapter by Waubgeshig Rice.
Awards
Independent Publishers Book Award for Midnight Sweatlodge, 2012.
Northern 'lit' Award for Midnight Sweatlodge, 2012.
Debwewin Citation for excellence in First Nation Storytelling, 2004.