Micah True

Three piles of books by Micah True sitting on a table covered by a black table cloth. There are two piles of “The Jesuit Relations: A Biography” separated by a pile of “Masters and Students: Jesuit Mission Ethnography in Seventeenth-Century New France.”

I don’t think I’ll ever stop feeling a little thrill every time I spot my books in the wild, like at my lecture last night at St Jerome’s University/University of Waterloo, where my thoughtful hosts had a pile of them for sale. Thanks, @stjeromesuni.bsky.social ! @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social

Happening tonight!

I'm looking forward to this lecture next Thursday evening, about a French surgeon who treated Anne of Austria's breast cancer using a remedy he is rumoured to have learned about while working in the Jesuit mission to the Wendat near Lake Huron in the 1640s. Streaming and in person. Link below!

I am BLUSHING! "True’s book has the Jesuit Relations surrounded. Going forward, it is difficult to imagine anyone engaging with the Relations seriously without adding True’s biography of them to their reading list. It is a bright and readable book..." @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social

Update: it took around five months and it wasn’t the provost, it was a dean 🥴

If a pic has a book in it, I’m probably trying to figure what it is. Hadn’t heard of this one before, but it looks good…putting it on my list.

Is that Good People? Is it good?

a man in a suit and tie says challenge accepted in a restaurant ALT: a man in a suit and tie says challenge accepted in a restaurant

Oh hello airport duty free shop. I see you want me to get lost in a maze instead of taking the most direct path through this space.

Happening this week!

An event poster advertising a lecture in the St. Joseph's College Speaker Series. The title is "A Missionary, a Surgeon, and Their Overlapping Accounts of the 17th-Century Jesuit Mission to the Wendat: Who Copied Whom and Why it Matters. Thursday, Feb. 12, 2025 4-5:30 pm in St. Joseph's College Boardroom and on Zoom. The Speaker is Dr. Micah True, Professor of French and Folklore and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at the University of Alberta. At the bottom of the poster, there is a QR Code to register for the Zoom event.

I'm excited for this lecture I'm giving next Thursday, about letters from the 17th-century Jesuit mission to the Wendat written by a French surgeon named François Gendron, and how they're related to the Jesuit Relations. In person and streaming online! Zoom registration in the image below.

Just found a groaner of a pun to put at the centre of a lecture I’m giving in March. Just need 40 minutes of material to go around it. I’m doing this right, yes?

got back from the dentist to find that not only @micahtrue.bsky.social's new Jesuit "Relations": a biography had arrived, but that my mother was already reading it and discovering new ways to get at me: if you're too busy to come down soon, she said, you could always send me a message in wampum...

I’ll be curious to know what she has to say after reading the chapter about the mother who abandoned her child and moved an ocean away to hang out with the Jesuits!

I might quit my day job

Genuine lol at 9 and 10. Nailed it.

Not even close to the last 24 hours, but this has already started. Not gonna happen.

Waking up to fresh snow always makes me pause and reflect on what kind of monster thinks it’s a good idea to clear their driveway with a gd leaf blower before 7 am.

I'm getting tons of email from ppl wanting to be paid to market my book in various ways: pitch it to podcasts, write a Wiki entry for it, deploy a "visibility arsenal" (!?) on its behalf, etc. Didn't get a single message like this after my first book (10 years ago, same press). Is this a new thing?

S11E6 Letters from the Frontier – The Jesuit Relations and Old World Understandings of New France | Curious Canadian History

Had a great chat with David Borys on the Curious Canadian History podcast about some of the lessons of my new book, The Jesuit Relations: A Biography (published this year by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social )

S11E6 Letters from the Frontier – The Jesuit Relations and Old World Understandings of New France | Curious Canadian History

Had a great chat with David Borys on the Curious Canadian History podcast about some of the lessons of my new book, The Jesuit Relations: A Biography (published this year by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social )

I’m giving a talk about my new book at Newman Theological College in Edmonton today, and they have a whole pile of copies sitting here waiting. Love to see it! @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social

I'm going to be very busy this week talking about my new book, The Jesuit Relations: A Biography (published by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social). Here are two opportunities to listen in online (two distinct talks! Come to one or both!):

Boston College's Jesuit Studies Café, Thursday morning in North America (afternoon in Europe). Click here to register: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Toronto Jesuit History Research Group, Friday late morning/early afternoon in North America (evening in Europe): shorturl.at/2ZJaE

I'm going to be very busy this week talking about my new book, The Jesuit Relations: A Biography (published by @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social). Here are two opportunities to listen in online (two distinct talks! Come to one or both!):

Career Teaching Professor (Open Rank), French This position is part of the Association of the Academic Staff of the University of Alberta (AASUA). While this position welcomes applications from individuals external to the university, current Acad...

My department is searching for a teaching professor of French (continuing appointment, open rank).

Livin’ that #conferencelife.

A poster advertising Micah True's lecture "Hiding in Plain Sight: Open Secrets About the Jesuit Relations from New France," hosted by the Toronto Jesuit History Research Group. The lecture is Nov. 14, 2025 from 1-3 pm eastern. Registration is required.

Here's an opportunity to hear me talk about my new book on the Jesuit Relations. Nov. 14, online! Click here to register: shorturl.at/2ZJaE

Sounds of the Seasons ...
New composition: Autumn Leaves.

Catholics, please advise: when a priest says “bless you” at the end of a phone conversation, what should one say (particularly if one is not catholic)? I’m guessing “you too” wasn’t the right thing…just hoping to avoid sounding like a weirdo next time.

Just emailed my MLA and the premier's office, for the first time ever. It's a start.