WOW! This was absolutely stunning and beautifully written. I didn't really know what I was in for, but it was such a striking read. I highly recommend it to everyone. Whitehead's prose is gorgeous and affecting and evocative, leaving me breathless and teary at times. Will definitely be purchasing copies for the library!

A collection of beautifully worded essays explores indigeneity, queerness, body positivity in the wake of eating disorders, grief and mourning, and how these intersect. Whitehead has brilliant prose-- the simile "apocalypses as ellipses" literally had me stopped dead in my tracks. I had to pause to appreciate it. I experienced something similar later when he said "I must remember that a story can be eaten like a body." This was stunning. As someone interested in linguistics, I appreciated his exploration into how language can be both oppressive and freeing. I also loved the use of Oji-Cree vocabulary, it really seemed like adornment on already perfect sentences. While this took me a while to get through despite its relative shortness, I really did end up enjoying this.

I don't think you read this book, you experience it! Whitehead's lyrical prose generate images, emotions and physical sensations. The intimacy of his prose is exquisite. How can you read a sentence like "I bathe in your language; I dry myself off in the shelter of your sunburnt lashes" and not be moved? I was not familiar with any of his other work when I came to this book. After finishing, I want to read everything else he has authored. Each chapter a themed essay, he languages the experience and intersections of being both queer and indigenous, while simultaneously showing you why language can be an inferior and oppressive tool. He has the singular ability to wrap language around physical sensations in a way I have not seen. I read this book slowly, a little at a time so that I could soak it in the experience. I have made a note to listen to the audiobook when it is released. There are so many Oji-Cree phrases in the book that I think hearing them spoken would be lovely and add to the experience.

Thanks to Net Galley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

I got the chance to read an advanced reader copy of the upcoming non-fiction work by Joshua Whitehead (thanks, NetGalley!). The book, titled Making Love with the Land, is comprised of essays of a variety of types, musing on Indigeneity and his writing process.


The book demands attention. Whitehead uses Indigenous language throughout, without definition, in a Indigenizing move that is reminiscent of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, the Kenyan writer who has long insisted on retaining Gikuyu language in his translated works. Like him, Whitehead leaves the English-speaking reader to confront their own discomfort with the unknown language. We are left with the sense that this writing is not for us, in the way that the vast majority of English-language works are, and that we are honored to be given what glimpses into Whitehead’s world that we can decipher. Even his use of the English language is designed to baffle, filled with obscure vocabulary and double entendres. Nothing in this book is expressed simply – everything must be decoded through careful analysis.


The themes in this book oscillate gracefully. Whitehead reflects on the way Indigenous culture and narrative is understood by outsiders and how he has interpreted it in his own work as an author, reflecting on his previous best-seller, Johnny Appleseed, as well as his book of poetry, Full-Metal Indigiqueer. Through his reflections on these works, Whitehead also reflects on his positionality as a queer author, and on the intersection of Indigeneity and queer identity. Overall, this is a thought-provoking book for those who have the dedication to sort through it.

Although I’ve heard of Joshua Whitehead and his published works before, this is actually my first opportunity to read any of his writing. I admit that there were times where I couldn’t follow along due to my own personal context as a reader who’s non-indigenous, white, heterosexual, amongst other differences. However, even when I found myself a bit lost, I was still more than happy to take in the beauty of his writing. Even more appreciated was his willingness to be so honest, open, and vulnerable in this collection of essays as he touches upon a variety of subjects ranging from his own personal writing to matters of his identity as a Two-spirit. These essays felt intimately immersive in a way rarely felt when reading the musings of others.

I look forward to exploring his poetry and fiction in the near-future, for clearly I have been missing out on quite a lot.

This was a beautiful memoir from the author of Jonny Appleseed! Whitehead is a brilliant leader and powerful voice to be heard.

Thank you, Univ Of Minnesota Press, for allowing me to read Making Love with the Land early!

Joshua Whitehead is a Writer with a capital W. This book evoked so many different and powerful emotions and brought me to tears. Just phenomenal.

Joshua Whitehead, author of the fantastic Jonny Appleseed, is a Two-Spirit, Oji-nêhiyaw member of Peguis First Nation who holds a PhD in Indigenous Literatrures and Cultures. In this essay collection, he contemplates Indigeneity, queerness, and mental health under settler colonialism in North America. In ten artful texts, Whitehead combines the personal (familial trauma, an eating disorder and sexual assault, e.g.) with the political while challenging standards and definitions as declared by Western academia.

I have always been particularly fascinated by Whitehead's arguments regarding the nature of storytelling and how the physical and the psychological intersect when a story is manifested from a person's mind over their breath into the physical world, where narratives create and change reality. Orality and community building through experiences shared via narrative are a major concern of this collection, which is partly challenging to read when the author merges academic language, Cree expressions, anecdotes and high literature to make complex points about identity and society - but the effort is so worth it. And of course, the land that Indigenous peoples and settlers live on plays an important role in many of the texts.

Whitehead's concept to render the essayistic artful, to craft creative non fiction, is also reflected in the fact that this collection, long before its publication, was the basis of performance art.

Joshua Whitehead's Jonny Appleseed was an extremely important novel for me: It taught me so much and I really loved its wonderful, multi-faceted protagonist. "Making Love with the Land" now appeals to the academic in me, but it does so in an artistic, absorbing way. I hope Whitehead will go on writing for a long time.