Award-winning author, Oscar-nominated filmmaker, and champion powwow dancer Julian Brave NoiseCat (Secwépemc/St’at’imc) will visit Winthrop, Omak, and Osoyoos, British Columbia from Oct. 28-30 to share the “Epic Misadventures of the Trickster Coyote” as part of the Coyote Rivers Tour.
NoiseCat brings the Interior Salish art of the Coyote Story to life onstage with a three-night, four-part performance that is free and open to the public. The Coyote Epic, the most widely told series of trickster tales in the world, begins Wednesday, Oct. 28 at the Winthrop Barn Auditorium in Winthrop at 7 p.m. The tour proceeds upriver, roughly the same direction the trickster traveled when he first filled the rivers with salmon and populated the lands with descendants. On Thursday, Oct. 29, NoiseCat will perform for students at Paschal Sherman Indian School and then at the Red Theater in Omak at 7 p.m. On Friday, Oct. 30, the tour concludes when NoiseCat and Coyote visit the Nk’Mip Cultural Centre in Osoyoos, British Columbia, at 7 p.m.
NoiseCat intertwines contemporary interpretations of Secwépemc and St’at’imc traditions with stories from his life, his family, and the history of the Northwest. His performances are intended to foster dialogue between the many cultural descendants of the trickster and deepen ties and understandings between all peoples of the region across borders and differences. According to an old prophesy, in the End Times, when the world is on fire, the earth renews, and the spirits of our departed return, the trickster will come back. With this offering, NoiseCat humbly suggests that time may be now.
Julian Brave NoiseCat is a member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq'escen, NoiseCat’s first book, “We Survived the Night,” a national bestseller in Canada and indie bestseller in the United States, was published by Random House Canada, Alfred A. Knopf, and Profile Books in English as well as Aufbau Verlag in German with translations forthcoming in French, Italian, and Spanish. The book was a finalist for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, the Indies Choice Book Award for Debut Adult titles, and the Washington State Book Award for Creative Nonfiction. It won the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize from the B.C. and Yukon Book Prizes as well as the Tadeusz Bradecki Prize for an imaginative work published in English. “We Survived the Night” is also currently a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the largest literary award for Canadian nonfiction. NoiseCat’s first documentary, “Sugarcane,” directed alongside Emily Kassie, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Directing Award in the U.S. Documentary Competition. The film was recognized with over 50 honors, including Best Documentary from the National Board of Review, and was nominated for an Academy Award, making NoiseCat the first Indigenous North American filmmaker ever nominated for an Oscar. NoiseCat resides on Kitsilano Indian Reserve No. 6 with his partner and their son.
This is a grassroots cross-border event co-organized by the Wenatchee Valley College Omak Red Road Association, the Syilx Okanagan Nation Alliance, the Methow Valley Interpretive Center, the River Warrior Society, the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, and the artist. All proceeds support wildfire relief efforts in Eastern Washington and the Okanagan.
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Published October 26, 2026
Media Contacts:
Kestrel Smith, Red Road Association advisor, 509-422-7841, ksmith@wvc.edu
Marcine Miller, Executive Director, Public Information Office, 509-682-6582, mmiller2@wvc.edu