Julian Brave Noisecat’s 'We Survived the Night' is part memoir, part Native history

Summary

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NPR's Book of the Day – Episode Summary

Episode Title: Julian Brave Noisecat’s 'We Survived the Night' is part memoir, part Native history
Date: November 4, 2025
Host: Michelle Martin (Interview), Andrew Limbong (Intro/Outro)
Guest: Julian Brave Noisecat

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Episode Overview

This episode spotlights Julian Brave NoiseCat’s new book, We Survived the Night, a nonfiction work blending memoir, Native history, journalism, and mythology. In a conversation with Michelle Martin, NoiseCat discusses intergenerational trauma, the legacy of Indian residential schools, the meaning behind his family's names, the role of Native storytelling, and the importance of including Indigenous perspectives in broader narratives.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Book’s Origin and Title

• “The title of my book is derived from the traditional way to give the morning greeting in Tsikwemet Mochin ... we say ‘cho kwi nk,’ which ... means 'you survived the night.’”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (02:34)
  • The greeting reflects both cultural tradition and themes of survival central to the book.

2. Personal and Family History

• The opening recounts the harrowing discovery of Julian’s father, Ed, as a newborn left in an incinerator at a Catholic-run Indian boarding school (01:53).
• NoiseCat connects this unusual yet emblematic story with his broader family narrative and the collective Native experience.

3. The Complexities of Names

• “My last name is Noise Cat ... missionaries wrote down the name wrong. It was originally Noeescat … the name kind of found its own meaning and story and it became one of survival.”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (02:57)
• Explores the theme that names carry responsibility and history, especially for Indigenous people whose names have often been Anglicized or distorted by colonial systems.

4. Intergenerational Trauma and Parenting

• “When you deprive a people, an entire race of the right to parent their children, eventually you break down the fundamental structures of the family system ... the book really is about trying to understand him and our story and what it is to be Native.”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (04:01)
• Reflects on how trauma from the residential schools affected generations, creating cycles of loss and reconnection.

5. 'Sugar Cane' Documentary and Breaking Silence

• NoiseCat co-directed an Oscar-nominated documentary (Sugar Cane) that bridged personal and collective histories, highlighting the silence around these traumas.
• “My father did not know about the circumstances of his own birth ... until he watched it in the film itself ... part of what I was trying to communicate ... was why this silence, why this lack of knowledge ... exists.”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (05:04)

6. Storytelling, Myth, and Coyote

• The book is non-linear, weaving in layers of myth, especially Coyote stories, to connect past and present.
• “My people don’t tell the coyote stories really anymore ... our trickster ancestor... did a lot of good, but he also messed a lot of stuff up ... there were so many parallels between [Coyote] and my own father, with whom I have a loving but, you know, complex backstory.”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (06:08)
• Reading from the book (06:45-07:30), NoiseCat illuminates how myth serves as a lens for Native identity, resilience, and transformation.

7. Mother’s Presence and Multicultural Identity

• Although not Native, Julian’s mother, an Irish Jewish New Yorker, is central to his upbringing.
• “She raised me so she was always going to have presence ... she even learned how to bead so that I could have my own powwow regalia to travel and dance.”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (07:50)

8. Purpose and Hopes for the Book

• “When we include Native people in the story, I think that we understand this place a bit differently ... my people have always considered the Coyote stories nonfiction ... it’s long past time that the social sciences actually take these ideas and these stories seriously ... you can’t tell me right now that this is not a world that is still spun around by tricksters and their tricks.”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (08:21)
• Advocates for recognizing Native storytelling and epistemology as valid frameworks for truth and understanding.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On his name:
  “The missionaries wrote down the name wrong. It was originally Noeescat … the name kind of found its own meaning and story, and it became one of survival.”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (02:57)

• On family legacy:
  “The book really is about trying to understand him and our story and what it is to be Native, because my connection to that ... my community was broken when I was a young boy.”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (04:01)

• On Coyote storytellings relevance:
  “You can’t tell me right now that this is not a world that is still spun around by tricksters and their tricks.”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (08:21)

• On his mother’s role:
  “She even learned how to bead so that I could have my own powwow regalia to travel and dance.”
  – Julian Brave NoiseCat (07:50)

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Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | | --------- | ------------------ | | 00:02 | Andrew Limbong introduces the episode’s universal theme: relationships with fathers and intergenerational questions. | | 01:53 | Michelle Martin introduces Julian Brave NoiseCat and recounts his father's origins at St. Joseph’s Mission. | | 02:34 | NoiseCat explains the significance of the book’s title and traditional morning greeting. | | 02:57 | Discussion on the significance and origin of the family’s name, NoiseCat. | | 04:01 | Explores the impact of residential schools on family, identity and parenting. | | 05:04 | Discussion of the Sugar Cane documentary and confronting silences around Native trauma. | | 06:08 | Integrating Native mythology and Coyote stories—NoiseCat reads from his book. | | 07:50 | Recognizing his mother’s influence and the blending of cultural traditions. | | 08:21 | Hopes for the book: including Native stories and perspectives as vital to understanding society. | | 08:55 | Episode closes with acknowledgments and thanks. |

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Conclusion

We Survived the Night stands as both a personal reckoning and a call to honor Indigenous knowledge. Through memoir, history, and storytelling, Julian Brave NoiseCat challenges readers to reckon with the consequences of colonial history, the power of names and myth, and the urgent need to include Native voices in our collective story. The episode provides rich insights for those interested in contemporary Native experiences, healing from historical trauma, and the enduring power of storytelling.

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Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. You know, at npr, we pride ourselves on bringing you books written from different perspectives, different walks of life, writers from different cultures, races and countries, you name it. And what's interesting to me is that there are always some common threads, some shared universal questions that we're all grappling with today on the show. That question is, what's the deal with my dad? Julian Brave Noise Cat's new book, We Survived the Night is an artfully written non fiction book that blends journalism with mythology, history and memoir. And in this interview with NPR's Michelle Martin, it's clear he comes with a unique perspective. And yet if you boil this book down to its core essence, it's about that central question, which is something we can all relate to. That's coming up.

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[Michelle Martin]

In August 1959, a watchman at a Catholic run Indian boarding school in British Columbia, Canada, heard a noise, a a cry really, coming from the incinerator. It was a newborn baby left in an ice cream carton. It was author and filmmaker Julian Brave, Noise Cat's father, Ed. Ed's beginning was unusual, but what followed was not. Brave Noise Cat weaves his father's story into the larger canvas of the Native experience in a new book titled We Survived the Night. And he's with us now to tell us more about it. Julian Brave Neistek, thank you so much for talking with us.

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

Thank you so much for having me on the public airwaves so let's start.

[Michelle Martin]

With the name of your book. There's a meaning to it.

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

Yeah. So we Survived the Night. The title of my book is derived from the traditional way to give the morning greeting in Tsikwemet Mochin. That's my family's language, my indigenous language. We say cho kwi nk, which doesn't actually translate to good morning. It means you survived the night.

[Michelle Martin]

You write about Indian names in your book and you say names come with responsibilities. So would you tell us about yours?

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

My dad was found in the trash incinerator at St. Joseph's Mission, the Indian residential school that my family was sent to to unlearn our Indian ways. And according to the news article where the night watchman who found him is quoted, his cries for life sounded like the noise of a cat. You know, my last name is Noise Cat, which is especially kind of mind blowing to me because our last name, Noise Cat, actually did not originally mean noise Cat. That was just. The missionaries wrote down the name wrong. Essentially. It was originally Noeescat. That was our ancestral Salish name. But then, I don't know, I mean, something about Indians and names, right? The name kind of found its own meaning and story, and it became one of survival.

[Michelle Martin]

What a start to life. Your father barely surviving his birth and had to have affected his life, and then in turn, it had to have affected your life, which is kind of the core of the book. Tell us what you'd like to tell us about that.

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

Well, my dad was the first generation of kids on the Cannon Lake Indian Reserve that were not taken away to St. Joseph's mission, the Indian residential school that my grandmother was sent away to. And when you deprive a people an entire race of the right to parent their children, eventually you break down the fundamental structures of the family system. You know, my dad was sort of always running from his own demons, his past. And eventually he left both me and my little sister behind. And so the book really is about trying to understand him and our story and what it is to be Native, because my connection to that, you know, my community was broken when I was a young boy.

[Michelle Martin]

You know, you co directed the Oscar nominated documentary film called Sugar Cane. It follows you and your father's reckoning alongside the story of an investigation that unearthed the remains of more than 200 children at a former Indian residential school in Canada. Why was it important for you to document these difficult conversations?

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

You know, my father did not know about the circumstances of his own birth and discovery in the trash incinerator until I directed Sugarcane. And until he watched it in the film itself. So I think that part of what I was trying to communicate with that film was why this silence, why this lack of knowledge about what happened to Native people exists in the broader world in the way that. That was in many ways internalized by our own communities and our own people? And then on the flip side of that, you know, as a storyteller, I'm also thinking very purposefully about what traditions were nearly wiped out by those schools and that I, as a Native storyteller, have a responsibility to bring back to life on the page.

[Michelle Martin]

You know, we're talking about this as if it's kind of a linear narrative, but that isn't how the book unfolds. It's actually remarkably rich and multilayered. You kind of lace it with native mythology, if I can use that term, about the coyote in particular. Could you read a little bit, please?

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

Yeah. You know, my people don't tell the coyote stories really anymore. And so, you know, as I was working on the book, I was also reading these old coyote stories that were gathered up in ethnographic texts 100 plus years ago. And I just started to notice that there were so many parallels between our trickster ancestor, this guy called Coyote, who was sent to the earth by the creator to set things in order, and who was a trickster. So he did a lot of good, but he also messed a lot of stuff up. And, you know, my own father, with whom I have a loving but, you know, complex backstory. So here, I guess I'll read a story about how our people narrated the arrival of the first white man in our territory as the return of the trickster coyote. This is from a chapter called the Drifters. The most common account held that Coyote would reappear in the end times when things came full circle. The trickster who molded the world into its indigenous state would be there just to do whatever trickster needed to be done. Make something like a sun, or break something like the witch's fishing weir, or steal something like goose eggs or a wife, or invent essential ergonomic functions like the elbow, or live a life full of damn good stories. Because how the world ends is just as important as how it begins.

[Michelle Martin]

That's wonderful. You know, before I let you go, I don't want to erase your mom.

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

Yeah.

[Michelle Martin]

She has her own story.

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

She does.

[Michelle Martin]

Your mom is not a Native person.

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

Nope.

[Michelle Martin]

And the book is dedicated to her.

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Yeah.

[Michelle Martin]

I'm wondering how you decided to make sure she had presence in the story.

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

You know, the truth is that she raised me so she was always going to have presence. And you know, even though she's non native, she's an Irish Jewish New Yorker. And if you hear her talk, you'll hear it. You know, she did things like after my father and her split, she would still take me to visit his family so that I could understand my culture and who I she even learned how to bead so that I could have my own powwow regalia to travel and dance.

[Michelle Martin]

Wow. So do you have a hope for this book, what it will do when.

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

We include Native people in the story? I think that we understand this place a bit differently. My people have always considered the Coyote stories nonfiction and I think that it's long past time that the social sciences actually take these ideas and these stories seriously because there's a reason we told them for thousands and thousands of years. And you can't tell me right now that this is not a world that is still spun around by tricksters and their tricks.

[Michelle Martin]

Julian Brave Neuescat is the author of We Survived the Night. Julian Brave neistcat thank you so much for talking with us.

[Julian Brave Noise Cat]

Cook's Jam Michelle really loved the conversation.

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, Andrew Here, host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast. And yeah, I love new books, but there's just something about rereading an old favorite on our new limited series, Books We've Loved. We're revisiting some classics from Pride and Prejudice to Dune to Everything in between and talking about why they're worth reading today. Listen to NPR's Books We've Loved right on this podcast feed every Saturday on the NPR one app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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