Listen "Weaving a story of family trauma and celebrating the beauty in survival"
Episode Synopsis
For Chyana Marie Sage, being “soft as bones” means accepting that humans are both strong and fragile — and have immense capacity for healing. Her new memoir, Soft As Bones, is her quest to better understand the childhood trauma that scarred her family. It's also a tapestry of poetry, history, Cree language, traditional ceremony and folklore — and delves into her experiences and those of her family with compassion and strength. Chyana joins Mattea Roach to share the catharsis she felt from writing about painful memories and the care she took to portray everyone with empathy.If you enjoyed this conversation, check out these episodes:Tanya Talaga: Searching for her great-great grandmother — a story of family, truth and survival Teresa Wong: Illustrating her family's past — in all its ordinary and epic moments
More episodes of the podcast Bookends with Mattea Roach
This poem took 16 straight hours to write
23/11/2025
Here’s what you have wrong about teen moms
19/11/2025
Chris Hadfield — from astronaut to author
16/11/2025
What is a stag dance?
05/11/2025
Can your nail tech throw a mean right hook?
29/10/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.