In The Dialogues: The Song of Francis Pegahmagabow , award-winning author Armand Garnet Ruffo brings to life not only the story of the famed WWI Indigenous sniper, but also the complexities of telling Indigenous stories. From Manitoulin Island to the trenches of WWI to the stage, Ruffo moves seamlessly through time in these poems, taking the reader on a captivating journey through Pegahmagabow’s story and onto the creation of Sounding Thunder , the opera based on his life. Throughout, Ruffo uses the Ojibwe concept of two-eyed seeing, which combines the strengths of western and Indigenous ways of knowing, and invites the reader to do the same, particularly through the inclusion of the Anishinaabemowin language within the collection. These are poems that challenge western conventions of thinking, that celebrate hope and that show us a new way to see the world. “A powerful work of art, history, and social reform – holding a mirror up to institutional racism, individual racism, and how folks still rise above it in pursuit of being a good person.” ― S'more Books Instagram "An important collection of poetry for Canlit in cracking open a traditional narrative placeholder of nation-building, lyrically and with experimental storytelling, of an Indigenous lens on war that has been absent in a Canadian consciousness." -- Sarah Hailstone "Ruffo exhibits a masterful sense of control over the poetic form both through his words and his choices around how to display them. [. . .] Indeed, with Treaty # , Ruffo presents the reader with a different story of Canada’s founding." ― Arc Poetry “ Grey Owl is an intriguing new examination of a much-examined life, well worth the evening or two required to savor a smooth writing style and an obvious love of language.” ― Western People “[ Treaty # ] is a major new work from an important, original voice.” ― CBC Books “ The Thunderbird Poems shake with thunder and shimmer with light.” ― Chronicle Herald “[ Norval Morrisseau: Man Changing into Thunderbird is] a singular and original achievement.” ― Literary Review of Canada Armand Garnet Ruffo was born in Chapleau, northern Ontario, and is a band member of the Chapleau (Fox Lake) Cree First Nation. A recipient of a Honourary Life Membership Award from the League of Canadian Poets, he is recognized as a major contributor to both contemporary Indigenous literature and Indigenous literary scholarship in Canada. His publications include Norval Morrisseau: Man Changing Into Thunderbird (2014) and Treaty # (2019), both finalists for Governor General's Literary Awards. In 2020, he was awarded the Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize in recognition of his work. Ruffo teaches at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.