Cody Caetano is a Canadian writer from

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, whose debut memoir ''Half-Bads in White Regalia'' was the winner of the Indigenous Voices Award for English prose in 2023. Caetano, of mixed Portuguese and

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of C ...

descent, studied creative writing at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, where he wrote the book under the mentorship of Lee Maracle."Half-Bads in White Regalia by Cody Caetano"

CBC Books CBC Arts () is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's diverse artistic communitie ...

, June 3, 2022. The book is a memoir of his tumultuous childhood as the son of a Portuguese immigrant father and an indigenous mother from the Pinaymootang First Nation who was a survivor of the

Sixties Scoop The Sixties Scoop (), also known as The Scoop, was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or "scoop up," Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement ...

, after they moved to the hamlet of Happyland in

Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

, Ontario, near

Orillia Orillia () is a city in Ontario, Canada, about 30 km (18 mi) north-east of Barrie in Simcoe County. It is located at the confluence of Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Although it is geographically located within Simcoe County, the city is a Lis ...

. Prior to its publication, excerpts from the manuscript won the Indigenous Voices Award for unpublished English prose in 2020."Winners Announced for 2020 Indigenous Voices Awards"
''Open Book'', June 22, 2020. The book was published in 2022 by Penguin Random House Canada. It was named as one of the best Canadian non-fiction books of the year by

, and ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', was named to the initial longlist for the 2023 edition of ''

Canada Reads ''Canada Reads'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language ''Canada Reads'' on CBC Radio One, and the Fre ...

'' and the 2023 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, and was a finalist for the 2023

Edna Staebler Award The Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction is an annual literary award recognizing the previous year's best creative nonfiction book with a "Canadian locale and/or significance" that is a Canadian writer's "first or second published book ...

. In 2023 he served as writer-in-residence for the Whistler Writers Festival.David Song
"Cody Caetano named Writer in Residence for 2023 Whistler Writers’ Festival"
''

Pique Newsmagazine ''Pique Newsmagazine'' is the only newspaper serving the resort community of Whistler, British Columbia. It was founded in 1994 and operated as an independent, locally owned weekly newspaper until July 2013, when it was purchased by Glacier Media ...

'', August 18, 2023.

References

Living people 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century First Nations writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian Ojibwe people Canadian people of Portuguese descent Writers from Toronto University of Toronto alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Ojibwe male writers {{Canada-nonfiction-writer-stub