Sandy Mecowatch, a descendant of Missinabi Cree people, falls through the ice leaving behind his wife Louise and 11 year old daughter Alison “Joe Pete”. Joe Pete’s grief propels her to risk searching for her father in the same winter conditions that took him. Along with her obedient and protective cousin Simon, they embark on a journey where they will find more than they anticipated buried beneath the snow. Their journey will unlock the ancestors and spirits embedded in the present who call back to a past marked by war and kinship, by conflict and wisdom that continue to contour their trajectory towards the future.

Ian McCulloch (April 18, 1957 – September 23, 2019) was

born in Comox, B.C. and raised in Northern Ontario. He was the

author of three books of poetry: The Moon of Hunger (Penumbra,

1982), The Efficiency of Killers (Penumbra, 1988) and Parables

and Rain (Penumbra, 1993), and three chapbooks, Balsam To

Ease All Pains (Alburnum Press, 1998), A Box of Light (above/

ground press, 2019), and Certain Humans (above/ ground press,

2020). He was also the author of the novel Childforever(Mercury,

1996). A founding member of Northern Ontario’s longest-running

international reading series, “The Conspiracy of 3,” he read twice

at Toronto’s prestigious Harbourfront series. Two of his poems

were included in the anthology Tamaracks: Canadian Poetry for

the 21st Century (LUMMOX Press, 2018). His writing was deeply

influenced by family and his Indigenous heritage. Ian was the father

of three and married to poet and professor, Laurie Kruk.

Ian McCulloch's profile page