Leave Our Bones Where They Lay

Indigenous Author: Aviaq Johnston
Illustrations by: Megan Kyak-Monteith
Fiction, 2025
Paperback

Every solstice, Jupi—just as his father did before him, and his before him—must make a nearly impossible pilgrimage to light an oil lamp at the base of a remote cliff. There he must wait for Kipik, an ancient being who has bound Jupi’s family to a mammoth task: share a story every visit that appeases the fickle Kipik, or suffer unthinkable consequences.

For decades Jupi has made the trek, growing grey and exhausted carrying this burden.Nearing the end of his life, Jupi knows he must name a successor, someone from his bloodline who can carry this weight and pass it on to future generations. But Jupi’s life has not been easy. His three children, one deceased, one incarcerated, one addicted, are not suitable successors. So Jupi must connect with a granddaughter he barely knows, whose language he barely speaks, and convince her to carry the weight of their family, perhaps their whole community, for the rest of her life.

This moving collection explores shifting definitions of what it means to be accountable to others, how family and community are defined, and how the spirits and demons of the past (both personal and legendary) are very much alive today.

Aviaq Johnston is the author of the bestselling picture book What’s My Superpower?. For older children, teenagers, and grown-ups, she has written the award-winning novel Those Who Run in the Sky and its sequel, Those Who Dwell Below. She has also written the short stories “Tarnikuluk,” winner of the AboriginalArts and Stories Award, and “The Haunted Blizzard,” featured in Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories. She grew up in Igloolik, Nunavut, and now lives in Iqaluit, Nunavut, with her dog, Sunny.

15.24 x 22.86 | 136 Pages
Orca Book Publishers
9781772275896