I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Author and poet John Brady McDonald presents the work that gave birth to a powerful poet in the book “The Glass Lodge: 20th Anniversary Edition”.

The Synopsis

John Brady McDonald, MBSFA, a Nêhiyawak-Métis multidisciplinary artist and writer from Treaty Six Territory in Saskatchewan, Canada, is an award-winning author of multiple books who has presented at literary festivals around the world. Before all this, however, he was a young, urban Indigenous youth, struggling with addictions, the streets, and the pain and turmoil of intergenerational trauma as a residential school survivor and the child of residential school survivors.

These raw, lyrical poems are a glimpse of the birth of a poet, recklessly using language and words with abandon and without restraint. It is the poetry of an individual experimenting with the language, mixing the influences of Shakespeare and Jim Morrison with the teenage-Goth writing style of youth-the base metals from which a lifetime of words was forged.

Originally published by Kegedonce Press in 2004, The Glass Lodge was presented across Canada and the United States at esteemed festivals. Chosen for the First Nations Communities Read program, it was also nominated for the Anskohk Aboriginal Book of the Year in 2005.

Now, here is that seminal work in a brand-new edition, re-edited and restored, illustrated with images of many of the original, handwritten poems, and with author’s notes providing frank, fascinating insight into what gave rise to each of these verses: the outpouring of language that marked the birth of a remarkable writer.

The Review

A masterful and compelling read, author John Brady McDonald does a fantastic job of conveying the emotional experiences and intense emotions that defined his young life at the time of the original publishing of this collection. The imagery and artistic nature of the writing kept the reader engaged with the experiences the author was writing about, sharing that emotional bond that good poetry forms between poet and reader. 

The powerful themes and the deep cuts accompanying each poem were the heart of this collection. The early poems deal with some of the toughest, darkest experiences in the author’s life, from bullying and addiction to so much more, while later poems speak of the lens through young writers’ view of love without the decades of experience that follow. The author wrote each poem with a new glimpse into the actions and experiences that they embodied and engaged with the reader in a whole new light.

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The Verdict

Thoughtfully curated, engaging, and an emotional collection, author John Brady McDonald’s “The Glass Lodge: 20th Century Edition” is a must-read poetry collection. The fast pacing and the personal themes the author explored with such honesty and creativity will keep readers coming back to this collection over and over again. If you haven’t yet, be sure to grab your copy today!

Rating: 10/10

About the Author

John Brady McDonald, MBFSA, is a Nehiyawak-Metis writer, artist, historian, musician, playwright, actor and activist born and raised in  Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is from the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and the Mistawasis Nehiyawak.  The great-great-great grandson of Chief Mistawasis of the Plains Cree, as well as the grandson of famed Metis leader Jim Brady, John’s writings and artwork have been displayed in various publications, private and permanent collections and galleries around the world, including the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.  John is one of the founding members of the P.A. Lowbrow art movement, and served as Vice President of the Indigenous Peoples Artists Collective for nearly a decade. John also served a term as vice-chair of the Board of Directors for Spark Theatre, and as a Senator with the Indigenous Council Committee of CUPE Saskatchewan. 

John is the author of several books, and has had his written works published and presented around the globe.

John has studied at England’s prestigious University of Cambridge, where in July 2000 he made international headlines by symbolically ‘discovering’ and ‘claiming’ England for the First Peoples of the Americas. John is also an acclaimed public speaker, who has presented in venues across the globe, such as the Anskohk Aboriginal Literature Festival, the Black Hills Seminars on Reclaiming Youth, The Appalachian Mountain Seminars, the Edmonton and Fort McMurray Literary Festival, the Eden Mills Writers Festival and at the Ottawa International Writers Festival. John was also included in the Aboriginal Artists and Performers Inventory for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC. 

John’s artwork and writing have been nominated for several awards, and he is the winner of the 2024 Saskatchewan Book Awards Non-fiction Award and Indigenous People’s Writing Award.  He has been honoured with several grants from the Saskatchewan Arts Board.  

A noted polymath, John lives in Northern Saskatchewan.

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