Like thousands of Aboriginal children in Canada, and elsewhere in the colonized world, Xatsu’ll chief Bev Sellars spent part of her childhood as a student in a church-run residential school.
These institutions endeavored to “civilize” Native children through Christian teachings; forced separation from family, language, and culture; and strict discipline. Perhaps the most symbolically potent strategy used to alienate residential school children was addressing them by assigned numbers only—not by the names with which they knew and understood themselves.
In this frank and poignant memoir of her years at St. Joseph’s Mission, Sellars breaks her silence about the residential school’s lasting effects on her and her family—from substance abuse to suicide attempts—and eloquently articulates her own path to healing. Number One comes at a time of recognition—by governments and society at large—that only through knowing the truth about these past injustices can we begin to redress them.
44 weeks on the B.C. Bestsellers list in 2013 & 2014!
First Nation Communities READ – Periodical Marketers of Canada Aboriginal Literature award (2017–2018), Finalist
Burt Award for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Literature (2014), 3rd Prize
Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize (B.C. Book Prizes, 2014), Finalist
Named one of 15 memoirs by Indigenous writers you need to read (CBC Books, 2017)
"Sellars has given the readers an insight that we needed to hear."
—Rabble.ca
"They Called Me Number One is from my perspective necessary reading across the generations."
—Jean Barman
“Deeply personal, sorrowful and ultimately triumphal, They Called Me Number One is an important addition to the literature on residential schools, and Canada’s reckoning with its colonial past.”
—the Winnipeg Free Press
By Bev Sellars
Bev Sellars was chief of the Xat’sull (Soda Creek) First Nation in Williams Lake, British Columbia, for more than 20 years, and she now serves as a member of its Council. Sellars was first elected chief in 1987 and has spoken out on behalf of her community on racism and residential schools and on the environmental and social threats of mineral resource exploitation in her region.
news | 2023-06-22
It’s Indigenous History Month!
…oil will never be clean i do not belong here” They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars is a powerful memoir about her … her own path to healing. An excerpt from They Called Me Number One: “When the weather turned cold in the winter, the …
news | 2023-06-06
Bev Sellars Honoured by Thompson Rivers University
…lawyer, and author Bev Sellars who wrote They Called Me Number One and Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations …
news | 2022-10-01
Bev Sellars' They Called Me Number One on CBC Books List
…to Read to Understand Residential Schools. They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars is one of the books named. Each of …
news | 2022-01-24
Scholarship on Bev Sellars's They Called Me Number One
…of Place and Relationship: Bev Sellar’s Memoir They Called Me Number One.” Dr. Dion and Dr. Griffith’s article is … autobiography. They argue persuasively that “They Called Me Number One offers the potential to learn from Indigenous … Dr. Griffith for their significant new reading of They Called Me Number One:Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential …
news | 2021-09-29
Bev Sellars Makes the "Bestselling Books in Canada" List
…“Bestselling Books in Canada” list. They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential … which they knew and understood themselves. In They Called Me Number One, Sellars breaks her silence about St. …
news | 2021-06-21
National Indigenous Peoples Day
…titles published by Talonbooks to date: 1. They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential …
news | 2017-05-03
Bev Sellars books shortlisted for First Nation Communities READ 2017–2018 award
…that both books by Bev Sellars – Price Paid and They Called Me Number One – are on the shortlist for this year’s First …
news | 2016-09-21
Bev Sellars in Vancouver this week
…her groundbreaking and award-winning debut, They Called Me Number One, Sellars offers a personal, candid and …
news | 2016-09-06
Price Paid is already a BC bestseller!
…Sun . Sellars’s first book, a memoir called They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential …
news | 2016-01-20
A look at what’s coming this spring
…Survival by Bev Sellars (author of the bestseller They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential …
Useful Links
Latest Tweets
Phone: (604) 444-4889
Outside Vancouver: 1 888 445-4176
Fax: (604) 444-4119
Website: www.talonbooks.com
Email: info@talonbooks.com
Talonbooks gratefully acknowledges the unceded, Traditional, and Ancestral Territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including those of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ First Nations, on which we are privileged to live, work, read, and write.
Talonbooks is thankful for the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, and the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.
Copyright Talonbooks 1963-2023
If you have any questions or comments about this website, contact the webmaster.