She started off helping kids in the classroom, then she wrote books to inspire and delight them. Leslie Gentile is the youngest of seven children, raised by an alcoholic father and a Deaf mother in a family that moved a lot given her father’s military service. While she knew her family has Indigenous ancestry, she is not connected to her community and the history was not shared out of shame. She’s married with three adult children and she was determined to break the cycles of her own childhood.

When it comes to her work life, Gentile worked as an educational assistant supporting students with disabilities. She was also a musician and songwriter and brought that into her work. Her songs explore emotional themes and social issues. Five years ago, she wrote her first book, Elvis, Me and the Lemonade Stand Summer. A publisher she sent it to printed it and was nominated for a dozen awards, winning a Canadian Award, the Jean Little First Novel Award and the Victoria Children’s Book Prize. She went on to write two more books in the Elvis series. At the same time, she’s been doing radio plays in podcasts for kids as part of a detective series called the Agatha Crispy Detective Agency, where she and her friend, Wheels, who is in a wheelchair, solve mysteries in their community. 

Thinking of the obstacles she overcame, Gentile couldn’t afford to go to university as the mother of young kids. She learned by going to the library and reading everything she could about writing. Something else she struggled with socially was trust issues from her upbringing, which held her back in her personal relationships and her ability to fit in at work. In time, she let people in and was heartened by the strong women at the distance education school she worked at who encouraged her about her music and who really liked her. "The biggest thing for me is to trust and now I've learned to just open my heart and speak to the universe, the ancestors, and ask for guidance and it comes to me in different ways,” she explains.

When her book was accepted for publication, Gentile was also diagnosed with cervical cancer. She went through treatment and she talked to cancer, visualized and meditated, asking for guidance and lessons. She practiced gratitude daily and she credits her mindfulness practices as contributing to her recovery.

She’s continued her practices and also does yoga and goes for walks in the woods to maintain her wellness. “I need to be in nature and wilderness. When I'm not, I feel deprived. My soul feels deprived,” she muses. Watching and listening to the birds, she finds meaning in their songs and movements.

If Gentile could give a message to her younger self it would be, “Don't be so afraid, and trust your instincts and you're better than you think you are, and have more self esteem. Trust it, build that and learn to love yourself.” Her advice for Indigenous youth is “You may feel so trapped, but there's always someone who will help you. You just need to open your heart and be prepared to ask for help."

As far as people who inspire her, musician Barney Bentall has become a friend and Gentile appreciates how he does music for the love of it. She admires the local First Nations people who are revitalizing their language with an immersion program and her friends who are teaching in the program. She also appreciates authors Kevin and Basil Sylvester, a father-son duo who have written middle grade books together.

In the beginning, Leslie was helping kids in the classroom, then she started writing books and songs to inspire and delight them. She was an education assistant at first, but life gave her her own lessons to learn about trusting people, recovering from cancer and breaking cycles. After overcoming a difficult childhood, she found ways to reach children with joy through literature and music.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.