CLAYTON THOMAS-MÜLLER is a member of the Treaty #6 based Mathias Colomb Cree Nation also known as Pukatawagan and located in Northern Manitoba, Canada. He has been recognized by Yes Magazine as a Climate Hero and is featured as one of ten international human rights defenders in the National Canadian Museum for Human Rights. He has campaigned across Canada, Alaska, and the lower 48 states organizing in hundreds of First Nations, Alaska Native, and Native American communities to support Indigenous Peoples to defend their territories against the encroachment of the fossil fuel industry, with a special focus on stopping the expansion of the Canadian tar sands and its associated pipelines. Clayton is an award winning film director, media producer, organizer, facilitator, public speaker, and bestselling author on Indigenous rights and environmental & economic justice. His book, Life in the City of Dirty Water, is a national bestseller and a CBC Canada Reads finalist.
*FINALIST FOR 2022 CANADA READS*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 J.W. DAFOE BOOK PRIZE*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 MANITOBA BOOK AWARDS’ MCNALLY ROBINSON
BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD*
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
One of CBC’s:
“Best Canadian Non-Fiction of 2021”
“12 books for the outdoor enthusiast on your holiday shopping
list”
“18 Canadian books for the memoir lover on your holiday shopping
list”
“[A] brave story. . . . Thomas-Muller not only writes about his
upbringing in Winnipeg, which translated from Cree means ‘dirty
water,’ he unravels how he began healing by using prayer and
participating in his culture. . . . [Life in the City of Dirty
Water] is a deep account of survivance against systems of
oppression, intergenerational trauma and addiction, and about
finding healing and highlighting his Cree experience.”
—The Tyee
“In [Thomas-Muller’s] latest memoir, Life in the City of Dirty
Water, he painfully and bravely reveals his journey through
catastrophic pain, unbelievable odds and a reconnection to land,
language and culture through his work defending Mother Earth. . . .
His memoir is an artefact of transformation—a transformation of a
hardened youth who endured more tragedy and danger than most of us
can imagine into a defender of people, land and the notion that all
species and systems are connected.”
—Winnipeg Free Press
“From selling drugs in a gang to organizing environmental campaigns
against oil and gas extraction, the stories of Thomas-Muller’s life
defy any one category to paint a complex picture of what it is to
be a Cree man in Canada.”
—The Globe and Mail
“An incredible story. . . [and] a beautiful book.”
—CBC, “The Current”
“[In Life in the City of Dirty Water,] Thomas-Muller finds hope in
the growing movement of climate change activism, especially by
children.”
—Vancouver Sun
“This book is an adventure story in every way. A life of drug
dealers and crackhouses and guns; leaving that behind for a
remarkable time of spiritual and personal growth; and there’s the
ongoing adventure of working desperately to protect the planet and
its sacred places. Clayton Thomas-Müller relates these adventures
in ways that will help everyone through unfamiliar terrain—he’s a
trustworthy guide and an authentic storyteller. In a moment when
Indigenous people around the world are coming to the very fore of
the most crucial fights, this volume will broaden your
understanding in powerful ways. And you won’t forget its scenes any
time soon.”
—Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org and author of
Earth and Oil and Honey
“Clayton Thomas-Müller—Cree poet and environmental warrior
dedicated to decolonization—has crafted an awesome, lyrical memoir
that captures the experiences of urban Indigenous youth facing
poverty, drugs, alcohol, domestic violence, and juvenile detention.
Most, like Clayton, inherited the intergenerational trauma of
residential schools. Clayton found a way to escape trauma and
poverty in order to fight for his people. This beautifully written
book is required reading for everyone who cares about justice for
the survivors of genocide who continue to survive in colonized
conditions. It offers a path to liberation that may also be the way
to saving the earth and humanity itself.”
—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of An Indigenous Peoples’
History of the United States
“[An] inspiring memoir.”
—CBC
“The one thing that Clayton is able to do is he connects
the past with the future. I think that’s what sets it apart from
all the other books. We have an uncertain future ahead of us and he
really takes what he’s learned from his past, his culture, his
spirituality, his ancestors—and all those stories of creation and
spirituality that make us a whole community. It makes the
First Nations and all the people of Canada whole. It’s that
wholeness that’s going to bring us forward. So I feel like Life in
the City of Dirty Water really was able to do that better than any
other book. It shows us a pathway forward as we try to deal with
upcoming trauma that is undoubtedly going to happen as
the climate changes.”
—Suzanne Simard, bestselling author of Finding the Mother Tree
(Canada Reads)
“A gritty and inspiring memoir.”
—Daily Herald Tribune
“[A]n artefact of transformation—a transformation of a hardened
youth who endured more tragedy and danger than most of us can
imagine into a defender of people, land and the notion that all
species and systems are connected . . . . [Thomas-Müller] painfully
and bravely reveals his journey through catastrophic pain,
unbelievable odds and a reconnection to land, language, and culture
through his work defending Mother Earth.”
—Winnipeg Free Press
“[An] inspiring and accomplished memoir.”
—Daily Hive
“[Life in a City of Dirty Water has] more ups, downs, chaos, pain,
and beauty than many of us will ever experience.”
—St. Albert Gazette
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