“Looking Back to Look Forward”: An Evening with Waubgeshig Rice and Trinity Reads at Seeley Hall
L-R: Provost Nick Terpstra, Waubgeshig Rice, Miyopin Cheechoo, Leanne Toshiko Simpson, Dr. Jennifer Brant
By Annette Yebin Kim
Trinity Reads Student Committee – Accessibility Coordinator
On the evening of March 25, 2026, Trinity Reads welcomed Anishinaabe writer Waubgeshig Rice to Seeley Hall for “Looking Back to Look Forward,” a year-end keynote exploring the historical events that inspired his novel Moon of the Crusted Snow (2018), and how Anishinaabe culture and history inspire his vision for a sustainable future. Rice was joined by Miyopin Cheechoo, a PhD student at OISE studying Indigenous feminist pedagogy, and a member of the Moose Cree First Nation.
After opening remarks from Dr. Jennifer Brant from the Indigenous Literatures Lab and Trinity’s Director of Literary Programming Leanne Toshiko Simpson, Cheechoo was invited to the podium to share her award-winning piece, “ai tried to code being Indian,” which explored how poetic language and Indigenous perspectives can perplex and disrupt colonial algorithms. Cheechoo was named the 2025 Indigenous Art Writing Award Winner by the Indigenous Curatorial Collective (ICCA).
Moon of the Crusted Snow was one of five shortlisted novels selected and celebrated by Trinity Reads throughout the year. After a campus-wide vote that took place in late January following the highly anticipated Trinity Reads book fair & champions panel, Moon of the Crusted Snow came out on top followed closely by River Mumma, written by U of T alum Zalika Reid-Benta.
Moon of the Crusted Snow depicts an isolated Anishinaabe community in Northern Ontario struggling to survive after a mysterious societal collapse cuts off power, technology, and food supplies to the reserve in the dead of winter. In the ensuing weeks and months, the community is faced with the reality that the world as they know it has ended. They must learn to abandon the modern systems they relied on in favour of traditional and sustainable practices that demand a renewed understanding of their ancient relationship to the land.
Rice’s post-apocalyptic thriller was largely inspired by the events of the Northeast blackout of 2003, which left most parts of Ontario and the Northeastern United States in darkness for over 48 hours. In his keynote, Rice recalled the city’s collective fear, and remembered the more muted reaction in his home community of Wasauksing First Nation, an island community on the Georgian Bay near Parry Sound that was more accustomed to disruptions in their lives.
Rice noted that in the event of the end of the world, the safest place for him to possibly be was on the reserve. He remains confident that even in the midst of failure of modern amenities like electricity or plumbing, that Indigenous communities – equipped with thousands of years of ancestral and land-based survival knowledge – would endure. Rice tells us that in times of societal collapse, our survival is reliant on our relationship with the land. Moreover, it is our collective responsibility as caretakers of the land to always protect it, learn from it, and sustain it for the generations to come.
Rice’s talk marked the final gathering of the academic year for Trinity Reads, which hosted 12 bookish events in iconic Trinity spaces. Over the summer, the organizing committee looks forward to reading more books by Canadian and Indigenous authors that underline the power of community storytelling in inspiring social change. Thank you to the many members of our campus community that joined us this year – we hope to be reading together again soon!
L-R: Jael Richardson, Rayn Lakhani, Adaora Olisa, Annette Kim, Kaelem Moniz, Kate Beshiri, Leanne Toshiko Simpson
Photo Credit: Scott Dion Photography
Annette Yebin Kim is a second-year student and undergraduate researcher at Trinity College studying Public Policy & Governance and Critical Disability. Kim is a second generation Korean-Canadian living with a traumatic brain injury. She serves as a feature writer for the Varsity Newspaper, an academic peer reviewer for KNOTS: The Undergraduate Journal of Disability Studies, a member of the Accessibility Services Student Advisory Committee, and accessibility coordinator for Trinity Reads.
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