Born in Cape Breton in 1957, Susan de Biagi, a resident of Powell River, B.C., has a Masters degree in History from University of New Brunswick. Set in 17th-century Mi'kma'ki territory of the Mi'kmaq, her first novel, Cibou (Cape Breton University Press, 2008), is narrated by a Mi'kmaq woman who is the daughter of a French father. It chiefly concerns her relationship with a Jesuit historical figure, missionary Anthony Daniel, who was first stationed in Cape Breton in 1632, and his brother, Captain Charles Daniel, who established a French trading post in 1629. The priest Daniel was later martyred in Huronia and became known as Saint Anthony Daniel. Susan de Biagi holds Métis status under the constitution, as a member of the Nova Scotia Federation of Métis. Her heritage is French and Mi'kmaw, dating back almost exactly to the time of her novel, "so I feel it is my story and my heritage." She does not call herself a First Nations author.

978-1-897009-29-1 $19.95

[BCBW 2008] "Fiction"