Jesse Thistle

Jesse Thistle is a Métis-Cree author. He is a registered citizen of the Métis Nation Saskatchewan and an assistant professor in the department of humanities at York University in Toronto. He is the author of the 2019 memoir, From the Ashes, and 2022 poetry book Scars and Stars. From the Ashes is considered one of the "most notable" 100 books Simon and Schuster U.S and all its 31 international imprints has published between 1924-2024, and is the only Canadian book included. Former CEO of Simon and Schuster US, Jonathan Karp, has singled out Thistle's memoir calling it perhaps “the greatest accomplishment during Kevin (Hanson's) tenure,” since the inception of Simon and Schuster Canada in 2013; Hanson was the inaugural publisher until 2024. Thistle is also a PhD candidate in the history program at York University, where he is working on theories of intergenerational, historic trauma, and survivance of road allowance Métis people. This work involves reflections on his own previous struggles with addiction and homelessness.