Cody Caetano is a Canadian writer from Toronto, Ontario,[1] whose debut memoir Half-Bads in White Regalia was the winner of the Indigenous Voices Award for English prose in 2023.[2]
Caetano, of mixed Portuguese and Anishinaabe descent, studied creative writing at the University of Toronto, where he wrote the book under the mentorship of Lee Maracle.[3] 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, after they moved to the hamlet of Happyland in Severn, Ontario, near Orillia.[3]
Prior to its publication, excerpts from the manuscript won the Indigenous Voices Award for unpublished English prose in 2020.[4] The book was published in 2022 by Penguin Random House Canada.[3] It was named as one of the best Canadian non-fiction books of the year by CBC Books,[5] and The Globe and Mail,[6] was named to the initial longlist for the 2023 edition of Canada Reads[7] and the 2023 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour,[8] and was a finalist for the 2023 Edna Staebler Award.[9]
In 2023 he served as writer-in-residence for the Whistler Writers Festival.[10]
References
- ^ "Cody Caetano's memoir explores a tangled family history". The Next Chapter, June 3, 2022.
- ^ Cassandra Drudi, "Cody Caetano, Emily Riddle, Matthew James Weigel among 2023 IVAs recipients". Quill & Quire, June 21, 2023.
- ^ a b c "Half-Bads in White Regalia by Cody Caetano". CBC Books, June 3, 2022.
- ^ "Winners Announced for 2020 Indigenous Voices Awards". Open Book, June 22, 2020.
- ^ "The best Canadian nonfiction of 2022". CBC Books, December 13, 2022.
- ^ "The Globe 100: The best books of 2022: From fiction to thrillers to graphic novels and biographies, these are the year’s must-read titles". The Globe and Mail, December 2, 2022.
- ^ "15 books make Canada Reads 2023 longlist". CBC Books, January 12, 2023.
- ^ Bob Armstrong, "Leacock prize finalists bring laughs aplenty". Winnipeg Free Press, July 8, 2023.
- ^ "Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction 2023 shortlist announced". Quill & Quire, February 2, 2024.
- ^ David Song, "Cody Caetano named Writer in Residence for 2023 Whistler Writers’ Festival". Pique Newsmagazine, August 18, 2023.