RAD Reading Circle: Bringing Our Stories Together
SEPT 2026
RAD Network’s latest Reading and Discussion Circle happened on September 11, 2026 where a small group gathered to explore Tyson Yunkaporta’s Right Story, Wrong Story: How to Have Fearless Conversations in Hell. This was a low-stress circle that focussed on the importance of relational process in the work we do. The book uses an authentic voice: sometimes it’s a sarcastic and disruptive trickster and sometimes it’s a loving relation lens to lead us through a series of yarns about what Yunkaporta calls having “fearless conversations in hell.”
A central insight from our conversation was that being in “right story” is not simply about producing the right content or outcomes. It is about the process we follow, the relationships we build and how we bring our different stories together. Throughout the book, Yunkaporta helps readers feel the difference between right story and wrong story–and begin to notice when seemingly good ideas coming from good intentions are actually perpetuating harmful assumptions and underlying context to give us wrong story.
One of the themes was that the process is the result. Yunkaporta’s story of making a traditional canoe helped us explore the difference between “right story” and “wrong story.” The canoe emerged through a living process involving land, family, knowledge, teaching and use. The relationships woven through its creation mattered as much as the canoe itself. When it was removed from that context and placed in a museum, it eventually disintegrated. The story reminded us that even a seemingly good outcome can become “wrong story” when it is separated from the relationships, responsibilities and cultural context that give it life.
Another theme was listening to understand, rather than respond. We contrasted listening to respond—which can be positional, defensive or reactive—with deep listening: listening to understand, resonate and discover where another person is coming from. Deep listening does not require us to abandon our values. Rather, it asks us to remain curious, notice our assumptions and become open to what the relationship might teach us. This is an essential skill for reciprocity and for RAD’s work across different Nations, organizations and view points.
Our conversation also explored the collective story: the contrast between the idea of the self as a unique, independent individual and the understanding that identity and knowledge arise within a relational net. Stories are not held by one person alone. They are carried collectively, shared when they are needed and understood differently as relationships and circumstances change. This raises an important question for RAD: rather than seeking one finished or authoritative account, how do we create the conditions for different stories to meet and form something together?
Lastly, we talked about learning in the fire where Yunkaporta’s “conversations in hell” gave us a way to think about the difficult conditions of our time–from climate change and biodiversity loss to polarization and the unraveling of modern systems. We reflected that discomfort is not necessarily a sign that a conversation has failed. Difficult encounters can become important places of learning if we enter them with curiosity and without deciding beforehand that the other person has nothing to teach us. Fearless conversation means being willing to enter the fire while bringing enough care into the encounter for learning and relationship to remain possible.
This matters deeply to RAD’s work. We regularly encounter stories about valuing nature, mobilizing private capital, achieving 30×30 and increasing Indigenous participation in conservation. Each may sound like a “right story,” but Yunkaporta invites us to look underneath:
Where we can start to follow: Who decides? Who owns? Who benefits? Who carries the costs and responsibilities? What relationship with land does the story assume? Whose story becomes authoritative?
Our RAD Reading Circles create opportunities to slow down, encounter different perspectives and approach difficult questions with a beginner’s mind. Through his yarning approach, Yunkaporta wove together voices and experiences from around the world not to agree on one answer, rather, he invites us to create a place where “us two” can build something together. RAD also seeks to foster this kind of space: a place where conversations happen, stories are shared and people listen with open minds, hearts and wills. The invitation we carried from the circle was simple: for each of us to become more attentive to the stories underneath our language, strategies and institutions. If we want to proceed together, we must first listen to the stories each of us carries. Then, if we choose to proceed, we weave together.
You can find Right Story, Wrong Story: How to Have Fearless Conversations in Hell by Tyson Yunkaporta in Canada through major online and physical book retailers and on Audible. The Audible version was particularly engaging as it felt like being in a yarn with Tyson over the past few weeks as I have listened to this book.
