We Survived the Night with author Julian Brave NoiseCat

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Join us for an evening with Julian Brave NoiseCat - writer, journalist, and director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Sugarcane - as he discusses his debut book, We Survived the Night, winner of the Tadeusz Bradecki Prize.

“Written in gorgeous, sparse prose, 'We Survived the Night' reads like a novel. Told with a blistering honesty, the truth and grit create a beautifully woven coyote story we haven’t heard before. This is a love letter to Oakland, to the Canim Lake Band Tsq’secen of the Secwepemc Nation, to a father from his son, to the act of being a Native person in the twenty first century finding ways to love even through all that wounds have opened and wrought. With this, Julian Brave NoiseCat has written a book I’ve been waiting my whole life to read.” —Tommy Orange, author of Wandering Stars

Part memoir, part reportage, and part reclamation of the Coyote Story tradition, We Survived the Night traces NoiseCat's search to understand his Secwépemc and St'at'imc father, an artist who left the family when NoiseCat was young. That search became a five-year journey spanning from the Canim Lake Indian Reserve in British Columbia to the Lumbee of North Carolina to the Tlingit fisheries of Sitka, Alaska. NoiseCat chronicled the historic rise of Indigenous leaders, the fight over identity and belonging, and the resurgence of Native political and cultural life in North America today.

“Julian Brave NoiseCat seamlessly connects true tales of identity and betrayal, love and abandonment, clarity and confusion. We Survived the Night is a whirling, radiant gift to the reader.” —Louise Erdrich, author of The Night Watchman

About the Author

Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer, filmmaker, champion powwow dancer, and student of Salish art and history. He is the first Indigenous North American filmmaker ever nominated for an Academy Award and the first Indigenous North American author to ever write about healing from intergenerational trauma by getting stoned with his dad for The New York Times Magazine.

NoiseCat’s first book, We Survived the Night, was an instant national bestseller in Canada and an indie bestseller in the United States. It was a finalist for the 2026 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction and shortlisted for the Indies Choice Book Award for debut adult titles. It is also currently a finalist for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize.

In 2026, NoiseCat brought the art of the Coyote Story back to life onstage through a one-man show that premiered with two sold out performances at the inaugural “The Dark” festival in the Hudson Valley.

NoiseCat’s first documentary, Sugarcane, directed alongside Emily Kassie, follows an investigation into abuse and missing children at the Indian residential school NoiseCat’s family was sent to near Williams Lake, British Columbia. Sugarcane was recognized with over 50 honors including Best Documentary from the National Board of Review and was nominated for a Peabody and an Academy Award.

NoiseCat’s journalism has appeared in dozens of publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker and has been recognized with many awards including the 2022 American Mosaic Journalism Prize.

He resides on Kitsilano Indian Reserve No. 6 with his partner and son.

Members: $5
Non-Members: $15