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ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: Little You
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://richardvancamp.com/
CITY:
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COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY: Canadian
LAST VOLUME:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Fort Smith, Northwestern Territories, Canada; married; children.
EDUCATION:Attended Arctic College (now Aurora College); graduated from En’owkin International School of Writing; University of Victoria, B.F.A. (creative writing); University of British Columbia, M.F.A. (creative writing).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. North of 60 (CBC), former writing staff intern; University of British Columbia, Vancouver, English instructor; Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, instructor; Musqueaum Youth Project, mentor and instructor; presenter and speaker at schools and conferences. Edmonton Metro Libraries, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, writer in residence, 2017.
AWARDS:Air Canada Award, Canadian Authors Association, 1997; Writer of the Year Award for Children’s Literature, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, 1999, for A Man Called Raven; Storyteller of the Year, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, 2006–07; Newsmaker of the Year, Northern Journal, 2012; Northerner of the Year, Up Here, 2012; Georges Bugnet Award, 2013, for Godless but Loyal to Heaven; R. Ross Arnett Award for Children’s Literature, 2015, for Little You; Eisner Award for Best Single Issue, 2016, for A Blanket of Butterflies; Georges Bugnet Award, 2020, and CODE Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Metis Young Adult Literature, English Language, and Blue Metropolis First Peoples Literary Prize, both 2021, all for Moccasin Square Gardens.
WRITINGS
Author of foreword to Coming Home: Stories from the Northwest Territories, Enfield & Wizenty (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), 2012.
The Lesser Blessed was adapted to film by director Anita Doron for First Generation Films, 2012. Story “Dogrib Midnight Runners” was adapted by director Zoe Leigh Hopkins as the film Mohawk Midnight Runners, Big Soul Productions, 2013. Little You has been translated into Native languages including Bush Cree, South Slavey (Athabascan), and Chippewa (or Ojibwe).
SIDELIGHTS
[open new]A Dogrib (Tłichǫ) writer hailing from Canada’s Northwest Territories, Richard Van Camp has penned award-winning books for readers ranging from the very young to young adults and beyond. Being half white and half Dogrib, he was born and raised not on the Dogrib Nation’s home territory but in the town of Fort Smith, where his parents worked as taxidermists. Known as the Métis (or mixed-blood) capital of the North, the town was quadrilingual, with Chippewayan, Cree, English, and French as official languages. As the oldest of four brothers, Van Camp felt idyllically immersed in family and community. He told Hanksville! interviewer Judi Saltman that he was “privy to the best storytelling in the world in Fort Smith because northerners love stories. … Stories for us are the best medicine. Where I’m from, storytelling is how we honour one another.” While he always loved hearing stories, what he most enjoyed creating as a child were ink drawings. As he matured through adolescence, he started growing more concerned with the titles of the drawings, which got longer and longer, while the drawings got smaller and smaller, until the words subsumed the pictures entirely and he was writing stories.
At the age of nineteen, by then well aware that First Peoples from Canada’s northern tracts were vastly underrepresented in literature, Van Camp decided he wanted to become a writer himself. He was then enrolled at Arctic College, in the regional capital of Yellowknife, concentrating on Native management studies, but he soon relocated to the En’owkin International School of Writing, east of Vancouver, British Columbia, to shift his focus to creative writing. After some six years of higher education, he held a bachelor’s and master’s in fine arts. Speaking about his approach to writing with a MyWithershins contributor, Van Camp related, “It’s always about the audience. I want to leave people chuckling days after and inspired so I’ll do whatever it takes to bring everyone where they can let go and enjoy. … I hope I’m writing about what’s resonating in people’s spirits so there’s that connection and ability to haunt a reader with a feeling.”
Van Camp’s first publication—and the first book ever written by a member of the Dogrib Nation—was his coming-of-age novel The Lesser Blessed, set in the northern outpost of Fort Simmer, a fictionalized version of his hometown. A Dogrib teen named Larry Sole is just trying to stay afloat as young people like himself, second-generation survivors of Canada’s notorious residential schools, waver between optimism and strife. With the town offering little recreation besides alcohol and sports, Larry Sole develops a penchant for storytelling. With a best friend by his side and a crush waiting in the wings, Larry is also trying to recover from an extreme and traumatic accident. Described by Jules Torti in the Vancouver Sun as a “cult classic,” The Lesser Blessed was named to the CBC’s landmark 100 Novels That Make You Proud to be Canadian list. Torti praises the novel as “a treasured time capsule, but one that is still relevant and familiar today. … It’s about finding ground and losing ground, reaching for a lost language and finding a new one that sometimes only love and ravens understand.”
Concerning Van Camp’s first short-story collection, Angel Wing Splash Pattern, an Open Book writer took note of the author’s “trademark mix of humour and tenderness” and how the characters “navigate individual paths towards a place of spiritual purpose.” Concering the diverse pieces in the later collection Moccasin Square Gardens: Stories, many treating everyday life in the Northwest Territories, a Kirkus Reviews writer observed that “Van Camp seems capable of bringing glints of humor to nearly every predicament, be it world-ending or just day-wrecking.”
With his first picture book, A Man Called Raven, a lesson about cruelty to animals, Van Camp worked with Cree illustrator George Littlechild, who drew from photographs of Van Camp’s in order to represent Dogrib characters and scenes. Welcome Song for Baby: A Lullaby for Newborns, illustrated with photos of multiethnic babies, is a celebration of the sacred event of a child’s birth. Resource Links writer Elaine Rospad hailed Van Camp for offering “a powerful first nations lullaby that encourages one to sing rather than read the words.” For another board book welcoming a baby’s birth, We Sang You Home, Van Camp teamed up with Cree-Métis illustrator Julie Flett. The book is narrated by two parents who look forward to offering kisses, songs, and more to their newborn, with the child giving them happiness in return. Praising the “lyrical, musical quality” of Van Camp’s text, School Library Journal reviewer Laura J. Giunta called We Sang You Home a “lovely picture book” showing the “profound, positive impact” children have on their caretakers.
A bilingual children’s book in English and Plains Cree, Kiss by Kiss: A Counting Book for Families/Ocêtôwina: Peyak ôskân ohcih—akitâ-masinahikan uses kisses as a basis for some sweet counting fun. A Kirkus Reviews writer called this book “a wonderful expression of love and welcome song of hope.” In May We Have Enough to Share, illustrated with photos, children are forthright in requesting things like cuddles, kisses, and care from their parents. Resource Links writer Isobel Lang appreciated that the book’s message is “inclusive and always positive,” communicating gratitude for “life, family and the beauty of nature.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2019, review of Kiss by Kiss: A Counting Book for Families/Ocêtôwina: Peyak ôskân ohcih—akitâ-masinahikan; July 15, 2019, review of Moccasin Square Gardens: Short Stories.
Resource Links, December, 2007, Elaine Rospad, review of Welcome Song for Baby: A Lullaby for Newborns, p. 14; October, 2016, Erin Hansen, review of We Sang You Home, p. 55; October, 2018, Tanya Boudreau, review of Kiss by Kiss/Ocêtôwina, p. 9; October, 2019, Isobel Lang, review of May We Have Enough to Share, p. 21.
School Library Journal, November, 2016, Laura J. Giunta, review of We Sang You Home.
ONLINE
Briarpatch, https://briarpatchmagazine.com/ (November 21, 2016), Tanya Andrusieczko, author interview.
Canadian Literature Online, https://canlit.ca/ (December 1, 2008), Jordan Wilson, “An Interview with Richard Van Camp.”
49th Shelf, https://49thshelf.com/ (May 13, 2021), Trevor Corkum, “The Chat with Richard Van Camp.”
Hanksville!, http://www.hanksville.org/ (September 29, 2003), Judi Saltman, author interview.
Malahat Review, http://www.malahatreview.ca/ (January 25, 2022), “The Story Is the Boss: Sarah Brennan-Newell in Conversation with Richard Van Camp.”
MyWithershins, https://mywithershins.wordpress.com/ (November 11, 2012), “Sunday Interview–Richard Van Camp.”
Nineteen Questions, https://nineteenquestions.com/ (April 22, 2013), Curtis LeBlanc, author interview.
Open Book, http://open-book.ca/ (July 7, 2020), “Keep It Short: Richard Van Camp on the Magic of Short Fiction and Angel Wing Splash Pattern‘s 20th Anniversary.”
Richard Van Camp website, https://richardvancamp.com (January 25, 2022).
Say, https://saymag.com/ (August 22, 2021), Danielle Vienneau, author interview.
Social Justice Books, https://socialjusticebooks.org/ (January 25, 2022), Debbie Reese, review of Kiss by Kiss/Ocêtôwina.
Vancouver Sun Online, https://vancouversun.com/ (February 25, 2016), Jules Torti, “Reissued Canadian Cult Classic The Lesser Blessed a Treasured Time Capsule.”
Windspeaker, https://windspeaker.com/ (March 22, 2021), Shari Narine, “Storytellers Run on Instinct in a Dance of Trust, Says Van Camp.”
Richard Van Camp is a proud member of the Dogrib (Tłı̨chǫ) Nation from Fort Smith, NWT, Canada.
Photo credit William Au
He is a graduate of the En’owkin International School of Writing, the University of Victoria’s Creative Writing BFA Program, and the Master’s Degree in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia.
He is an internationally renowned storyteller and best-selling author. His novel, The Lesser Blessed, is now a movie with First Generation Films and premiered in September of 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival. He is the author of five collections of short stories, six baby books, three children’s books, five comics and much more.
Awards
2021
The Blue Metropolis First Peoples Literary Prize at the 2021 Blue Metropolis Festival.
For Moccasin Square Gardens
and Richard’s literary career so far.
2021
CODE Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Metis Young Adult Literature
Winner English Language Category: Moccasin Square Gardens
2016
Eisner Award for Best Single Issue for A Blanket of Butterflies
2015
R. Ross Arnett Award for Children’s Literature for
Little You
2013
Georges Bugnet award for Godless but Loyal to Heaven (Enfield & Wizenty)
2012
Northern Journal’s “News-maker of the Year”
Up Here Magazine’s “Northerner of the Year”
2006 – 2007
Wordcraft Storyteller of the Year for “The Greatest Storytelling in Canada and the US” at the annual Returning the Gift conference held at Michigan State University by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers
2001
Jugendileraturpries Award, the highest award for a translation awarded by the German government for The Lesser Blessed (Translated by Ulrich Plezdorf)
1999 – 2000
Canadian Children’s Book Center “Our Choice” recommended list For What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses
1999
Writer of the Year Award for Children’s Literature by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers for A Man Called Raven
1997
Canadian Authors Association Air Canada Award, honoring a young (under 30) Canadian writer deemed to show the most promise for the future in the field of literary creation
Nominations
2013
Finalist for the Western Magazine for the short story “Devotion”
2010
ReLit Award for The Moon of Letting Go
Western Magazine Award, nominated by Prairie Fire for the short story “Dypthia”
Richard Van Camp is an internationally renowned storyteller and best selling author. Born in Fort Smith, NWT, he is the proud author of books honouring the Northwest Territories of Canada. You can visit him on Facebook, Twitter and at www.richardvancamp.com. Mahsi cho!
Richard Van Camp
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Richard Van Camp
Born October 8, 1971 (age 50)
Nationality Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation
Occupation Writer, storyteller, professor
Website http://www.richardvancamp.com/
Richard Van Camp (born 8 September 1971)[1] is a Dogrib Tłı̨chǫ writer of the Dene nation from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.[2][3] He is best known for his 1996 novel The Lesser Blessed, which was adapted into a film by director Anita Doron in 2012.[2]
Contents
1 Life and work
2 Works
2.1 Novels
2.2 Novella
2.3 Short Story Collections
2.4 Children's Literature
2.5 Graphic Novels
3 Awards
4 References
5 External links
Life and work
Van Camp attended the En'owkin International School of Writing, the University of Victoria's Creative Writing BFA Program, and the Master's Degree in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. He teaches creative writing with an aboriginal focus at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and teaches creative writing and storytelling at the Emily Carr Institute. Van Camp works with Musqueam First Nations youth with the Musqueaum Youth Project.[4]
Van Camp began his career as an intern on the writing staff of the television series North of 60, produced by the CBC. He was also a CBC script and cultural consultant for four seasons.[5] He has published several short story collections. Most of his work is set in the community of Fort Simmer, a fictionalization of his hometown.[2] He has also published children's books, poetry and educational graphic novels.[6] He worked with the Healthy Aboriginal Network to create and edit graphic novels.[7] Van Camp's writing has been influenced by the tradition of oral storytelling. He has stated:
"I need oral storytelling in my life as a listener because I'm always filtering the pauses, the slang, the rockabilly of pacing, the delivery. When I listen to a master storyteller or someone just sharing a story, I'm studying how they're talking and how they're standing, and what the pitch is in their voice. I can sometimes take their techniques and put them into a story."[8]
Van Camp was the first Dogrib writer to publish a novel. At 24 he published The Lesser Blessed, which was later adapted for film and released in 2012. One of Van Camp's short stories, "Dogrib Midnight Runners", was re-imagined as a film directed by Zoe Leigh Hopkins called Mohawk Midnight Runners. The film was released in 2013 through Big Soul Productions. The story appears in Van Camp's short story collection The Moon Letting Go (2013). In 2018, his novella When We Play Our Drums, They Sing was published alongside Monique Gray Smith's Lucy & Lola in the compilation The Journey Forward.[9] The book was named as a shortlisted finalist for the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature. His short fiction collection, Moccasin Square Gardens, was published in 2019.[10]
In June 2014 Van Camp was announced as a juror for the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature. His finalist nominee was Little You artist Julie Flett. Van Camp was the 2017 Edmonton Metro Libraries writer in residence.[5]
Van Camp was awarded the R. Ross Arnett Award for Children's Literature for his children's book Little You.[11] He was also the winner of the 2013 Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction for his short story collection Godless but Loyal to Heaven.[12] Van Camp was a shortlisted nominee for the ReLit Award for Short Fiction in 2010 for The Moon of Letting Go, in 2016 for Night Moves, and in 2020 for Moccasin Square Gardens.[13]
Works
Novels
The Lesser Blessed (Douglas & McIntyre, 1996)
Whistle (Pearson Canada, 2015)
Novella
When We Play Our Drums, They Sing! (2018)
Short Story Collections
Angel Wing Splash Pattern (Kegedonce Press, 2002)
Godless but Loyal to Heaven (Enfield & Wizenty, 2013)
The Moon of Letting Go (Enfield & Wizenty, 2010)
Night Moves (Enfield & Wizenty, 2015)
Moccasin Square Gardens (2019)
Children's Literature
A Man Called Raven (Lee & Low Books, 1997)
What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses? (Children's Book Press, 2003)
Welcome Song for Baby (Orca Books, 2007)
Blessing Wendy (Orca Books, 2008)
Nighty Night (McKellar & Martin, 2012)
Little You (Orca Books, 2013)
We Sang You Home (Orca Books, 2016)
Kiss by Kiss (Orca Books, 2018)
May We Have Enough to Share (Orca Books, 2019)
Graphic Novels
Path of the Warrior (Healthy Aboriginal Network, 2010)
Kiss Me Deadly (Healthy Aboriginal Network, 2011)
Three Feathers (Portage & Main Press, 2015)
A Blanket of Butterflies (Portage & Main Press, 2015)
The Blue Raven (Pearson Canada, 2015)
Spirit (South Slave Divisional Education Council, 2015)
Awards
2020 Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction, Moccasin Square Gardens[14]
2015 R. Ross Arnett award for Children's Literature, Little You[15]
2013 Georges Bugnet award, Godless but Loyal to Heaven[16]
Richard Van Camp
APRIL 22, 2013 BY NINETEEN QUESTIONS
Richard Van CampBy Curtis LeBlanc
Richard Van Camp is the author of twelve books and a proud member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation from Fort Smith, North West Territories. He is a graduate of the En’owkin International School of Writing, the University of Victoria’s Creative Writing BFA Program, and has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.
Richard was a major factor in my decision to come to Vancouver and pursue a BFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. After studying his novel The Lesser Blessed in an introductory English Literature class at the University of Alberta, I began researching Richard and found his name coming up often in connection with UBC. That spring, I promptly submitted my application to transfer.
More recently, I connected with him on Twitter (@richardvancamp) and asked if he would be willing to do an interview. As I believe is evident in the following email exchange, Richard Van Camp is as funny, tender, and incredibly generous as his writing suggests.
First: a quick one for you Richard. Top three favourite authors?
My top three favourite answers at this point in time are:
Gregg Hurwitz for The Punisher’s Girls in White Dresses (Marvel). For anyone doubting the authenticity of graphic novels today, check out this tale of brutal violence and redemption.
The writing team of Mike Costa and Christos N. Gage for the IDW graphic novel GI Joe: Cobra -The Last Laugh. This series follows “Chuckles”, a GI Joe operative hell bent on infiltrating Cobra. It’s ruthless, terrifying and a story I think should be mandatory for all creative writing students. The research that went into this narrative is mind-blowing and I’ve read the series three times now. I know I’ll go back many, many times as it’s an instant classic: right up there with Elektra Assassin and The Walking Dead.
Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead (Image Comics) is one I’ve followed for years and it just does not let up. The thing about Kirkman’s writing is he makes it very clear that in the zombie apocalypse, it’s not the zombies you have to worry about: it’s the humans.
Can you tell me a little bit about your path to becoming a published writer?
I started writing when I was 19 because, as a voracious reader, I never saw anyone writing about my life as a northerner and I decided to tell the truth. The Lesser Blessed took me five years to write and, 12 books later, I believe that’ s been my approach to this day: tell the truth, don’t hold back, trust, risk, push, reread, rewrite, hone.
Your website says you’ve been publishing since 1992. What was the first piece you published, and where was it published?
I started publishing music and book reviews in the Yellowknife newspaper The Press Independent and later went on to start publishing poetry in the Gatherings series (Theytus Books).
Where were you in your life at that point?
I was in Yellowknife taking Native Management Studies at Arctic College (now Aurora College) and, later, I moved to Penticton to attend the En’owkin International School of Writing.
I think many developing writers worry about how to make ends meet while setting aside time and energy to work on their craft. What was your experience with this when you were first learning and then working as a writer?
Jordan Wheeler gave me the key to making a great living as a writer in 1992 standing outside the En’owkin Centre. He said, “In Canada, you actually make more money from being a writer than from your writing.” I pressed him for details because I knew he had something very important to share. He explained that how writers make their money is from touring, selling books, giving keynotes and workshops or by being a Writer in Residence or teaching a night course at an institution. The key is to not count on your royalties or advances: I consider them bonuses for my work. Please remember that money buys time: if you’ve got it, you don’t have to hustle as hard as when you’re without; when you’ve got it, you can focus on your writing every day. The key is finding that balance. At 41, I’ve finally found the tour/home balance where I’m not abandoning my sweetheart, our home and myself and these great characters who have been so patient with me.
As a creative writing student, I’m a firm believer in my education. There’s an ongoing dialogue between writer-types and literature buffs about whether or not writing, especially in the genres of fiction and poetry, can be taught. You graduated from the En’owkin International School of Writing in Penticton before you completed your BFA at the University of Victoria and your Masters at UBC. You also teach creative writing, so maybe you can weigh in on the discussion?
I’ve met great writers who don’t have a high school education and I’ve met writers who learned all they could about the craft through reading and travel. I can only speak from my experience: I knew I wanted to be the best writer that I could be and I knew I needed and wanted time to really focus with other writers and mentors who shared that wish, so that’s why I decided to go from the En’owkin Centre, to UVIC to UBC. What is that–six years? Holy cow! That was a six year time of focus and workshopping and I don’t regret it at all. It all had to happen to give me that critical eye for detail, the instinct for tone and my ear for dialogue. I’m grateful to all of my teachers and fellow students who are all publishing great works right now. I think the best advice we, as writers, can give anyone interested in become one is 1) write something you would like to read; 2) read!!; 3) tell your truth and don’t hold back and 4) listen to an editor you trust but fight for what you know in your heart needs to stay.
I can’t remember if it’s in Angel Wing Splash Pattern or The Lesser Blessed (my copies are back in Alberta), but I remember reading that you often write while listening to music. If I’m correct, you even thanked the bands that you were especially into while you were writing the book, which isn’t something you see too often. Do you think the music has an effect on your writing?
Certainly! Yes, I cite the songs that help me hone my work each time it’s a song that propels me to write or dream a story. For “Wolf Medicine: a Ceremony of You” in The Moon of Letting Go, I listened to “Spiders” by System of a Down hundreds of times over a period of weeks to hone the story to perfection. That song just hypnotized me in such a sensual way and I wanted to transfer that humming bliss to the reader. I heard “Winter Bones” by Stars and shot up out of bed and got to work on a story I wanted to write about bullying and desire. It just captured the wonder and hunger we feel when we’re on the hunt for someone and wish they were hunting you back. This was the alchemy from my story “born a girl”, which will be in my new collection. I have whole soundtracks for songs that launch me into the world of the story. I need them. I couldn’t have written The Lesser Blessed without the help of The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission UK, The Cocteau Twins, The Ministry, Platinum Blonde, The Smiths, The Terminator 2 Soundtrack, Skinny Puppy, Iron Maiden, Dead Can Dance, Nick Cave, My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, Kate Bush, Slowdive and Field of the Nephilim!
Right now I cannot stop listening to Crystal Castles. My my. What a band! The screaming, the dance anthems, the digital elegance—the chaos!!!
The Lesser Blessed is a coming-of-age story, and there are stories in Angel Wing Splash Pattern, The Moon of Letting Go, Three Feathers and Godless but Loyal to Heaven that deal with youth as well. What draws you to young characters and their stories?
I’m at the tender age of 41 now (!) and I think I finally have the abilities to sort through the emotions and tension I felt growing up: tension with friends, crushes, parents, society—you name it. You’ll notice I’m having recurring characters in all of my work like “Flinch,” “Torchy,” “Larry,” “Bear” and “Kevin.” I love going back in time and seeing how they’re doing as kids or as men or as fathers. It’s like this never ending story for me and I look forward to exploring their worlds over and over. We’re like brothers now and we get to watch each other grow up.
I should say that I’m working in all genres and that’s because I’m a storyteller first. All great writing comes down to great storytelling and with each genre, yes, it has its rules but it also has its own rewards if you are willing to research and explore the form and that’s the challenge now: to find new ways to explore genres and braid them with new techniques. This is a craft and a discipline. The key is showing up as a student every day. Let’s take this digital interview, for example. I’m going to show you a clip that I return to time and time again. Don’t tell anyone, okay?
It’s here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=32udqal_lyQ
In this clip, Sid from the brilliant BBC series, “Skins”, has just learned that his father has died. He and his best friend, Tony, are seeing the Crystal Castles perform. See how tender and how hard they hold onto each other when Sid finally breaks? Didn’t it look like Tony was going to kiss Sid at 2:01 and 2:05? It’s like all they have in the world is each other at that very moment and Tony surrenders as the alpha male and they grab, claw and hold onto each other for dear life. I love this scene so much and want to write things so unforgettable like this that people just break down and bawl.
(I adore MissKittyLilly’s comments below on YouTube: “I cry so fuking much every time I see this” and I can’t stop thinking about Cinduurz’s comment: “this scene is so fucking intense it hurts..”).
I love comments like this because I want to write stories that wound my readers: wound their hearts, wound their spirits, wound their regrets. On the flipside, I also want to write stories where readers wonder about my characters years after they’ve put one of our books down.
The Lesser Blessed was turned into a movie. What was that like for you? What kind of role did you play in the creation of the film?
I just wrote a love letter to Anita Doron, the director, which read, “No one will ever love The Lesser Blessed as a novel as much as Anita Doron and no one will ever love her adaptation of the novel as much as me.” I mean that. It took us seven years to raise the funding and find our dream cast to create the movie with First Generation Films. It all had to happen. I actually saw the movie for the first time at 4pm on Sept. 9th, 2012 at TIFF. It was mind-blowing. I knew three minutes in that we were sitting on a gold mine. Anita not only captured the innocence of the novel but she created the story into something new, something all her own, something graceful and tender. I’ve seen it three times now and burst into tears the last time I watched it because I could just relax and lose myself in the movie. I’m proud to say that I’m the Executive Producer because there were so many e-mails, phone calls, conference calls, meetings–and it all had to happen! You can watch the trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD0bNnpAA8U
We’re just putting the finishing touches on an adaptation of my short story “Mohawk Midnight Runners” from The Moon of Letting Go. Zoe Hopkins is directing; Big Soul Productions is producing. It will be called “Mohawk Midnight Runners” as Zoe is Mohawk and Heiltsuk, and it was shot in Six Nations, Ontario. I can’t wait for you to see it!
The professor who introduced me to your writing often talked about you as being an author well on your way to becoming part of the Canadian literary canon. Is that a distinction you embrace? Do you feel like it accurately describes your work?
Oh that is so sweet! Mahsi cho! Thank you! With 12 books to my name in another half way done and two others on the backburner and the ability to be T Boned by another story, poem or script at any minute—well, I’m just so grateful for everything.
As a fan, I have to ask if you’re currently working on a new book? If so, are you willing to talk a little bit about it?
We’ve just signed a book deal for my very first graphic novel with an artist named Krystal Matheus titled Three Feathers (Portage and Main Press). It’s about restorative justice and it’s based on something horrible that happened in my home town of Fort Smith, but, in Three Feathers, I’ve turned tragedy into hope and redemption. We also have a brand new baby book coming out in the Spring titled Little You (Orca Book Publishers). It’s a tear jerker and I can’t wait for you to see it.
I’m working on a new short story collection titled Night Moves and it follows so many of my favourite characters and introduces a few new ones. Oh it’s going to be funny, sensual and dark.
Mahsi cho! Thank you very much. You can visit me every day on Facebook, Twitter and www.richardvancamp.org and www.richardvancamp.com.
Keep It Short: Richard Van Camp on the Magic of Short Fiction and Angel Wing Splash Pattern's 20th Anniversary
DATE
July 07, 2020
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With his impressively prolific and genre-spanning resume (including 1996's now-classic novel The Lesser Blessed), one could safely assume that critically-acclaimed author Richard Van Camp is usually working too hard to do much ruminating on his past. This year, however, marks the 20th anniversary of Angel Wing Splash Pattern (Kegedonce Press), Van Camp's debut collection of short fiction, and a new edition of the book has been released to celebrate the occasion. Featuring additional material, a new introduction, and a re-designed cover, it's a must-grab for fans both new and old.
His first foray into short fiction, the stories in Angel Wing Splash Pattern explore themes of grief, community, and resilience with Van Camp's trademark mix of humour and tenderness. Following the lives of his characters as they navigate individual paths towards a place of spiritual purpose, readers of Van Camp's later books will also recognize a few names making their first appearances here.
We're thrilled to have Richard at Open Book today, where he discusses the spellbinding nature of great short fiction, the emotional rollercoaster of Angel Wing Splash Pattern's early reviews, and why writers can't help but revisit familiar themes.
Listen to a CBC reading of the story "Sky Burial" here (narrated by Ben Cardinal), and a reading of "The Uranium Leaking from Port Radium and Ray Rock Mines is Killing Us" here.
Open Book:
How did you decide what stories to include in the collection? When were they written?
Richard Van Camp:
Angel Wing Splash Pattern was my first short story collection. Kegedonce Press publisher and editor Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm took the fourteen short stories I submitted and chose the ones that made it into the first edition twenty years ago. When I asked her why she’d left out the stories she did, she explained that I was exploring the same themes in several of the stories and, therefore, those double-dipping on the same theme could be saved for my next collection. She was right. Writers are often living and investigating, mining, processing, and sifting through the themes they write about (bullying, redemption, revenge) over and over. Several short story collections and twenty years later, I think about her words all the time.
OB:
What do you enjoy most about writing short fiction? What is the toughest part?
RVC:
Short stories are these swirling galaxies, all perfect in their own way. When I think of the short story writers I adore (Raymond Carver, SJ Bernstein, Bill Gaston, Lee Maracle, Leif Gregersen, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Lisa Bird Wilson, Jordan Harper, Kevin Hardcastle), those writers, their stories, those perfect universes, are swirling inside me all the time. I can remember the feeling of reading a short story more often than a novel. Maybe it’s the tiny heart-bomb size of them. Maybe it’s the spell I’m under for a while as I read them. That’s my wish for the short stories that have chosen me: that those Van Camp spells, those swirling Van Camp universes, spin their way through their readers forever.
OB:
What if, anything, did you learn from writing these stories?
RVC:
I remember receiving a horrible review in The Georgia Straight right after Angel Wing Splash Pattern came out. I was devastated, embarrassed, and surprised. This was a complete slap to the face, as when I reread it after it was published, I knew I had earned every single word in the collection. But there I was: my first short story collection out (Yay! Wa hoo! We did it!) with a horrible review (Ummm, well what do we do now?). So that sucked. A few months later I was up in Yellowknife, and I woke up with this urge to buy The Globe and Mail. Who buys The Globe and Mail on a Sunday? Rich people do, and I was not rich at all. But I had this urge. I practically woke up in a handstand thinking about it. So, I went and bought a copy, came home and all of a sudden there was this great starred review in The Globe and Mail singing praise for the collection. I cheered and gave thanks because I knew we’d worked so hard on this collection and had curated such a force with the grace and beauty of the stories. They were arranged by Kateri in such a way that Angel Wing Splash Pattern is a journey of the soul in spirit soaring through lives in the North, exploring the lives of Northerners on their sacred way--some as sacred clowns, others as wounded healers. I am so proud of this collection and so grateful for Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm and Renee K Abram at Kegedonce Press for choosing it. I’m also grateful to the late great Tim Atherton for our cover photo. I look forward to holding, reading, and swooning over the 20th edition, the 40th and, hopefully, the 50th because so many of these characters have found their way into my other short story collections and graphic novels (Torchy, Sfen, Snowbird, Larry Sole from The Lesser Blessed, etc.) We have earned every single word to create these gorgeous spells, and that is my wish for my books and stories.
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Richard Van Camp is a proud Tlicho Dene from Fort Smith, NWT. He is the author of 24 books in just about every genre. His novel, The Lesser Blessed, is now a feature film with First Generation Films and his graphic novel with Scott Henderson, A Blanket of Butterflies, was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2016. You can visit Richard on Facebook, Twitter and at www.richardvancamp.com.
The Story is the Boss: Sarah Brennan-Newell in Conversation with Richard Van CampRichard Van Camp
Malahat volunteer Sarah Brennan-Newell talks with Novella Prize judge Richard Van Camp about finding the right form, the function of novellas, and revisiting old favourites.
Richard Van Camp is a proud member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He is the author of two children’s books with the Cree artist George Littlechild: A Man
Called Raven and What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses? He has published a novel, The Lesser Blessed, which is now a feature film with First Generation Films; his collections of short fiction include Angel Wing Splash Pattern, The Moon of Letting Go and Other Stories, Godless but Loyal to Heaven and Night Moves. His latest graphic novel is A Blanket of Butterflies and it’s about peacemaking where a grandmother is the hero of the story. Read more here.
Click here for details on entering the Novella Prize contest.
Congratulations on being named a judge for the Novella Prize! The novella is such an interesting genre, right in between two more popular story lengths. What function do you think novellas serve especially well? What do you look for in judging them for a contest like this?
I love love LOVE novellas. I always include one in my short story collections because it's an even bigger galaxy than a short story.
I've always said that a short story is the perfect Saturday night that you can return to time and time again. Novellas introduce us to characters and scenarios that can haunt, intrigue or disturb someone even more. That's what I'm looking for: something intriguing. Something unforgettable. Something forever.
It can be hard to find a place to publish novellas - do you have a novella or collection of novellas that you consider to be a particularly good example of the genre?
Hmm. Great question. I can't think of any off the bat. Sorry.
My novellas are "Godless but Loyal to Heaven" in the collection of the same name.
I also have "The Moon of Letting Go" in the collection of the same name.
I also have "Blood Rides the Wind."
These were just too big for a short story and the characters were so interesting to me, I could follow them after the denouement. Also, the "supporting" characters in the novel were just as intriguing as the narrators. With novellas, you get to relax and look around the room, take a peak under the mattresses, slide open the windows and inhale or scream your head off.
You've published in a variety of genres, including short stories, novels, graphic novels and children's literature. As a storyteller how do you decide the form a story should take?
The story is the boss. If something comes to me, I have to pause and say, "Well now. How are you? What are you? Are you a comic? A poem? a Tweet? A one page novel? A children's book?" It's like meeting a magical being. You have to show up and be open to where it wants to lead you.
Can you speak a little bit to the writing process for the titular novella of your short story collection Godless but Loyal to Heaven? It features characters you have written about before - did it evolve from a character study of Torchy or did you have the plot outlined from the beginning?
Oh yes. Mermaids was such a great short story to write. It hit me that we still had some unresolved issues: what happened to Sfen's body? Who is Torchy after Sfen passes away. Who is he without his brother and his partner in crime? What happened with Stephanie and Snowbird? What if became a reluctant hero? What if Snowbird has entrusted him with medicine power because he sees what a good but wounded heart Torchy has?
Building on that as a writing instructor how do you approach teaching a form like the novella? What advice would you offer young writers looking to publish?
I'd say a story takes as long as it takes. Worry about the marketing later. I'm always assigning homework: read this or watch that or go eavesdrop at a cafe or wear something your character would wear, etc. etc. I just keep nagging and cheer-leading. I think I just overwhelm people with believing in them and what they want.
Lastly what are you reading right now? Something new and inspiring or an old favourite?
I'm reading Hilary Rodham Clintion's biography "What Happened". 100 pages a day. I'm grieving the loss of a dear friend and Hilary's resilience is contagious and comforting. I always return to IDW's "Cobra: The Last Laugh", the graphic novel. I have it on standby for daily viewing. It's my all time fave g. novel. I want to write something that great, that defiant, that eternal. I'm also enjoying reading my buddy Leif Gregersen's new short story collection. It's in draft but it's already gold. I also just reread "Indiscretion" by Charles Dubow recently and, my God, what a novel. What a haunting and inspiring life's work.
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2012
Sunday Interview – Richard Van Camp
I would like to introduce, to you all, an award-winning writer I was fortunate to meet while volunteering for the Thin Air International Writer’s Festival back in September. He is a very prolific writer, excelling in many forms of the art. He has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from UBC and teaches a night class at U of A for writers. I mentioned him briefly in a previous post about the festival and included the trailer to the movie, coming soon, based on his Young Adult novel, ‘The Lesser Blessed’. Please give a warm welcome to Richard Van Camp! 🙂
Hi, Richard! Welcome to my blog! Please tell my readers a little about yourself.
Hi, Susan.
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I live in Edmonton now and am taking a break before heading up north to launch my new collection, Godless but Loyal to Heaven, in Yellowknife.
While you were here in Winnipeg, I found you to be a prolific and animated storyteller. What is it about telling stories, either written or spoken that you absolutely love?
I think storytellers carry the secrets of the world, so it’s a joy to astonish an audience with secrets I’ve picked up along the way from listening and celebrating the storytellers I turn to for renewal.
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You’ve written numerous poems and short story collections (‘Angel Wing Splash Pattern’, ‘The Moon of Letting Go’ and, most recently, your collection ‘Godless but Loyal to Heaven’), comics with health-related themes (‘Path of the Warrior’, ‘Kiss Me Deadly’), children’s books (‘What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses’, ‘A Man Called Raven’, the baby book ‘Nighty Night’ and ‘Welcome Song for Baby’) and a novel, (‘The Lesser Blessed’), which I mentioned was recently turned into a movie. Of all the writing you’ve done, which body or bodies of work are you most proud to call yours and why?
I love them all, Susan. Truly. Each genre has its own rewards. To work with artists I deeply admire like Chris Auchter, Steve Sanderson and George Littlechild on our comic books and kids books is a dream come true. The editors I’ve worked with have been tough and it’s safe to say we’ve earned every word in all of my publications.
When creating the written story, children’s book, baby book, comic, short story or novel, what is your process from beginning to end? For example, do you let your muse guide you or do you plot out how the story will progress, step-by-step?
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Each story is different: sometimes I see the ending first and write the story backwards; other times I’ll latch on to a line of dialogue and build; other times I ask, “What if?” and see where that takes a character or characters. Sometimes I want to build on a mood or capture something that happened to me or a friend. Other times, I write about what breaks my heart in the world and I “fix” it in a story.
I like ‘fixing’ things in my stories, too, and always ask the ‘What if’ question. 🙂
Are there differences in your process depending on the type of writing you do? If so, what are some of those differences?
I’d like to answer this with the issue of time: the comics took two years each because we were writing about issues that involved research and consulting; The Lesser Blessed took 5 years because it was about blurred memory and longing; the community of Aggasiz haunted me so deeply with how it felt to be there one night for a reading that I woke up the next morning and began writing I Count Myself Among Them in ‘The Moon of Letting Go’. I was given 5 days to write ‘What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses?’ because another creative team pulled out of the publishing schedule, and I wasn’t going to let an opportunity to work with George Littlechild slip away. I could go on and on but if you look at my short story collections, I have a section that I always put at the end. It’s the liner notes and I break down how or why I wrote each story.
But the bottom line is, “The story is the boss.” I’m a humble student to the craft and I honestly don’t know what I’ll write next. There’s a few plot outlines I’d like to follow up on but there’s always a character or a place that T bones me(!)
The Moon of Letting Go: and Other Stories
Some writers I’ve talked to say that they listen to music while they write. Is music important to your creative process or do you prefer to create in silence with only your own thoughts to push you forward?
Big time. I always write to music. I listened to “Spiders” by System of a Down a thousand times (no lie) to create the mood of “Wolf Medicine: A Ceremony of You” in The Moon of Letting Go. The second I heard “Winter Bones” by Stars I sat up and began writing “born a girl”, which will be in my new collection. You’ll see I credit the bands I write to in my collections.
What role does humour play in your storytelling? Do you inject it into scenes that might be uncomfortably tense, do you create entire scenes that are humourous, or do you dispense your humour in the dialogue – or a little bit of each?
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It’s always about the audience. I want to leave people chuckling days after and inspired so I’ll do whatever it takes to bring everyone where they can let go and enjoy.
I know you drew a few chuckles during your school visits! 🙂
A lot of your stories seem to have an inner meaning that the reader can take away with them. Do you write specifically to make a particular point or moral, or do you find that the story itself evolves to show the reader something important?
Great question: I do write about what breaks my heart in my fiction, and I hope that I capture what’s breaking a lot of people’s hearts. I hope I’m writing about what’s resonating in people’s spirits so there’s that connection and ability to haunt a reader with a feeling.
It is important to be passionate about what you’re writing because it does come through to the reader. 🙂
Often the underlying theme of your stories relates back to your home and where you grew up. How important to you is it to write about those people and places?
Deeply important. Home inspires me and I’m so in love with any author that can bring us to their home. DW Wilson’s “Once You Break a Knuckle” was the last great book for me that did that. Pat Conroy always brought me to the south. I’m still on that deer hunt in James Welch’s “Winter in the Blood” and Craig Lesley took me rodeoing in his “Winterkill” series. I adore authors who can take me with them anywhere.
Me, too! 🙂
I know you’re excited about the upcoming movie based on your novel, ‘The Lesser Blessed’. Please tell my readers how the whole process began and how it felt to be at the premier showing in your hometown.
Filmmaker Anita Doron wrote to me seven years ago introducing herself and asking if she could turn my novel into a movie. We worked so hard together (along with our producer, Christina Piovesan, and co-producer, Alex Lalonde, to get the movie made. Bringing it home to Fort Smith and Yellowknife was deeply personal because I have always wanted northerners to see themselves in my writing and on the big screen. It was a dream come true!
Here’s the movie trailer.
It looks totally awesome!
Are there any social media links you’d like to share with us?
Sure. I’m on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads. My website is www.richardvancamp.com. Come check me out. I have a lot of fun being a VJ/DJ/ and Social Media J every single day.
If there is anything else you’d like to add before we say goodbye, please feel free to tell us.
Sure! You can read and listen to several of my stories online for free at a former site of mine: http://www.nativewiki.org/Richard_Van_Camp
And you can read my comic book on sexual health in its entirety here:
http://www.hss.gov.nt.ca/sites/default/files/kiss-me-deadly.pdf
I want to thank you, Richard, for taking the time to answer my questions.
Mahsi cho for asking great questions, Susan!
You are very welcome! Mahsi! It was my pleasure. Good luck with the book tour! 🙂
Richard Van Camp Interview by Judi Saltman,
Canadian Children's Illustrated Books Project
September 29, 2003 in Vancouver
Judi: Did you always know from the time you were a child that you wanted to write?
Richard: When I was growing up in Fort Smith of the Northwest Territories, I inherited the most wonderful family, the most wonderful community. I had the best childhood growing up in the Northwest Territories. I was also privy to the best storytelling in the world in Fort Smith because northerners love stories. We love stories. Stories for us are the best medicine. Where I'm from, storytelling is how we honour one another. So growing up I was around some of the very best storytellers in the whole world. I didn't know I was going to be an author but one thing that people tell me was that I was always drawing, pen and ink, black and white, always drawing growing up. I have in a trunk in my dad's garage, stacks of notepads filled with drawings. As I was aging, I started to worry more about the titles of my drawings than the actual drawings. As I became 15, 16, 17 my drawings became smaller and my titles got longer, and they started to wrap around the page. In fact, I have a drawing in my dad's log house in Fort Smith where there's the tiniest drawing and yet the title wraps around in a circle five times before I sign it. Finally the drawing stopped. The titles turned into stories. That's how I became a writer.
Why I became an author is very interesting and simple: nobody was writing the stories that I wanted to read. Nobody was writing the stories about my life and my experience, what I saw, what I felt, what I heard, what I sensed. So I sat down and I wrote for five years, a story that turned into a novel. At the time I didn't know it was a novel, I didn't plan it. All I knew was I wanted to write something that ultimately I would want to read. Five years later I came out with my first novel The Lesser Blessed.
Judi: How old were you?
Richard: I can't remember. I've lived so many lives in this one I honestly couldn't tell you. But what I do know is we sold it in two weeks to Douglas & McIntyre. They bought it, it was published, and nothing prepared me for that. It was so incredible, everything that happened to me after The Lesser Blessed came out. About six months after it came out, I got a phone call from a publisher named Harriet Rohmer of Children's Book Press. She was the visionary, publisher, leader, and clan-mother of Children's Book Press. She had been speaking to a gentleman named Clifford Trafzer who was a huge editor in the US, who had come out with a book called Blue Dawn, Red Earth which included by short story "Sky Burial". Clifford and Harriet had been talking. Harriet, as the leader of Children's Book Press, wanted to start a new generation of children's books. For her publishing house, she wanted people who had never tried to write children's stories before. She wanted to approach them and to see what would happen. She knew that she needed to work with people who came from strong backgrounds of oral tradition and were gifted storytellers.
She called me and she said, "I haven't read any of your work but Clifford Trafzer said that you were a joy to work with. As an editor to an author, he said that you were very professional, and ultimately a superb storyteller. Do you have any children's stories that my publishing house would be interested in looking at?" I thought about it and I had had a short story published in a book that Douglas & McIntyre had published. The short story was called Raven and the editor was Joel Maki. The anthology was Steal My Rage.
I spent the next week writing down the children's stories that my mother had told me growing up in the Northwest Territories. I also photocopied the short story called Raven which is a story about cruelty to animals. But that was intended for adults, young adult and up. It was not intended for children. After I sent it, I didn't think I would ever hear from them again, because I thought, "My goodness, I've just come out with The Lesser Blessed," which is a brutal account of growing up in the Northwest Territories. Had they read this, I don't think that they would ever think I could ever write a children's story because The Lesser Blessed is so sexual, so brutal, so gorgeous in its darkness and faith, but I see now that I was putting those labels on myself because a great storyteller should be able to work in every genre, because after all, isn't every genre just great storytelling?
Harriet called me back about two weeks later and she said, "We love the story Raven. love everything you've sent but Raven is what we're interested in. Can you rewrite this for children? Can you do that?" I said, "Yes I can". So I rewrote it for them and they bought it. Then they called back and said, "We love it. How would you like to work with George Littlechild as your illustrator?" I could not believe it, because I had been George Littlechild's biggest fan for five years. What I didn't know was that Children's Book Press had come out with This Land Is My Land-- George's first children's book. I'd seen the book, but I did not put two and two together. So, for them to ask me "How would you like to work with George Littlechild?" was beyond anything I ever could have imagined because it was working with such a huge hero of mine. The honour - there are no words to tell you. It's like hearing you're going to be a father for the first time. I couldn't believe it.
We worked together for a year, but what I'll tell you is a very little known secret. I was not allowed to contact him, as much as I wanted to - I had stories, I had pictures, I had ideas. I wanted to see his artwork, I wanted to see the sketches, but basically I was forbidden. Because in children's literature there have been cases in the past where authors have called the artist and said, "What the hell have you done to my story? You are crucifying my story. This is not how it is. This is not how the people look." So, I was not allowed to speak to George for a year and it was agony. I wanted to know what those drawings were going to look like.
When The Lesser Blessed was published, it was the first book that had ever been written by a member of the Dogrib Nation, so this would be the first published children's book, and I knew that children's literature was going to get into the homes of the Dogrib people, of the Dene people of the North - this was the one that was going to get me into homes. I knew so much was riding on it because so many Dene people hadn't read my novel. I knew the children's literature was going to open so many doors and so many hearts to my stories.
When I received A Man Called Raven, it was a complete surprise because I didn't know what the artwork was going to look like. Because of my constant nagging, they'd sent me the thumbnail sketches, which are a shadow of the book. Nothing could have prepared me for the beauty of this book. It was hardcover. The quality of the Children's Book Press's colour separation, printing, layout was gorgeous. I'm so proud of that book.
It's a teaching story. It was so perfect and I was so happy. I can remember that day clearly, it was the first day of snow in 1997. My friend, Nicole McLeod, drove me to the post office, but at the same time she had just found out that a dog killer had shot her dog, so it was very tragic to have a book ceremony when she'd just heard that. A book of cruelty to animals and a dog killer who loved his job. He went beyond the call of duty to kill dogs, eh? A Man Called Raven came out and it was a celebration, even though Nicole's dog crossed over to the happy hunting grounds, we had to persevere.
Six months after A Man Called Raven came out, Children's Book Press called me again and said "We love working with you. Everything is going great. George loves working with you. We want to do another book with you." And I said, "I want to do a story about a wolverine, the caribou, all the Northern animals." She said, "Oh, wait a minute, Richard. George had to learn about ravens and the Dogrib people. George wants to do a book about horses." And I said "Oh! I've got a million stories about horses."
But, you know, that was a fib. Because where I'm from we don't have any horses. It's too cold. Eight months of the year there's snow; the four months of the summer there's bugs. We've got hair-eaters, mosquitoes, bulldogs, black flies, horseflies, you name it - we've got it in hoards. My God, in Fort Smith in the summer it looks like we're all wearing sweaters that are moving, but those are mosquitoes. And those bugs drive the horses mad. So, growing up I'd never ridden a horse until I was about 27. I was a stranger to horses. But I knew this was an opportunity to work with my hero again, so I told a little lie, eh? I hope the good lord above - I hope the boss upstairs forgives me for that. And I said, "Oh I've got a million horse stories." They said, "Good, you've got five days to show us what you can do, because we're getting ready for our fall line-up. " So in five days I wrote What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses? How I wrote it was simple: I asked everybody, "What's the most beautiful thing you know about horses?" Everyone who called my house, every elder I could think of, all my neighbours, all my friends, "What's the most beautiful thing you know about horses?" And that was how I came up with that book.
Judi: How did you think of the question?
Richard: Well, I needed to know. I knew the book had to be beautiful and I knew it had to be about horses, so I just connected the dots. And the rest is history.
Judi: Those are the two books that you've created for children so far that have been published. Could you mention stories that haven't yet been published?
Richard: I have a manuscript called The Magic of Wolverines. I also have two adventure stories based on my grandma and my grandfather, Pierre and Melanie Wah-shee. One is called The Mysterious Case of Grandma and Grandpa and Wolf Teeth in the House, which is about personal hygiene, taking care of your teeth and your gums. It's based on a true story about the day my grandfather got brand new teeth and how my grandmother threw them away, thinking they were wolf teeth in the house. It's a tragicomedy. I also have another story about my grandmother and my grandfather, and this is based on true story as well, and this is about the biggest moccasins in the world. It's a true story of an encounter my grandparents and my uncle Eddy as a little boy had with a Sasquatch. They were out on the barren lands hunting caribou and they had an encounter with a Sasquatch. We call them "nagha" and that means "bushman." This is a true story of everything that happened after that encounter. It's a story about respect.
Judi: Are they all picture books
Richard: Picture books, yes.
Judi: Could you say something about your work with George Littlechild? First of all, what I understand is that the publishers kept you separate. Did you get to meet with him or communicate with him afterwards?
Richard: We did. Vision TV actually has our very first meeting on tape. I had been whining for a year about how I had been unable to meet George. So, after A Man Called Raven came out, the producer, Dorothy Christian, arranged for us to meet for the first time and did a show about it. It was a Cree interpretation of a Dogrib story. So two tribes that were traditional enemies were working together.
Judi: That's very interesting. What was that meeting like?
Richard: It was heaven. It was absolute heaven to meet my hero.
Judi: He is most remarkable in writing and art and in vision.
Richard: His work is so sensual. It's so graceful and sacred. To work with somebody that spiritual and that gentle and that generous with his spirit - it was beyond anything I ever could have imagined. I knew I was in the presence of the sacred when I shook his hand.
Judi: Do you feel he captures the Dogrib society and the life and environment in his art? Do you feel his art works with your stories?
Richard:When you look at A Man Called Raven, the panel of the raven flying over the drummers, that is Dogrib. I'll tell you another story about how powerful George Littlechild is. One thing my publisher let me do when we were working on A Man Called Raven was send books and pictures to George about how the Dogrib dressed, what the Dogrib looked like, how we keep our hair short. You can always tell Dogribs just by their noses, by their chins, by their cheeks, by how dark their eyes are. I sent pictures of my whole family to him. In fact those pictures that I sent to him are the pictures that you see in What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses?
When we did our first reading together in Vancouver at our book launch, I said to the audience, "Now ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, I want to show you the most beautiful picture that George did of my mother." I saw George's eyes kind of bug out, and he quickly hid that, but I saw that. Afterwards when we went for coffee, I said, "George, what happened when I said 'Look at the picture that he did of my mom.'" I said "This is the picture of Chris and Toby's mom that you did. The full portrait of the beautiful Dogrib woman, that's my mom Rosa Washii. My mom loves that picture because that's a picture of her."
He said, "Richard, you sent me pictures of your brothers, your dad, your uncles, your grandma, your grandpa, all of your best friends and all of your buddies. You never sent me a picture of your mother."
I said, "I did so, I remember I sent out a whole stack of pictures."
He said, "I never got them. I went on how you look and how your brothers look, and I imagined the most beautiful Dogrib woman."
I swear to God he drew my mother. Anyhow, when you compare that portrait he did in A Man Called Raven and you put that true picture of my mother, Rosa Wah-shee, from What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses? - that's the same woman.
After that book tour, I went back home to the North and I looked around for those pictures? You know where they were? They were on top of my fridge. I forgot to mail them because I didn't have the stamps.
Judi: He had a vision.
Richard: He went on vision. If that doesn't answer your question, I don't know what will.
Judi: His spirit captured your mother's spirit. The visual images are mostly from photos that you sent him of your family and friends?
Richard: I sent him pictures of my dad's truck that we called "The Green Death." I sent him pictures of our dog, Holmes.
Judi: That's wonderful. Let's go back to your stories for a minute. Could you discuss the values and themes in your stories; what the values and themes are, and if you feel they're teaching stories? If you feel they are personal and also reflect your culture? Respect is obviously a theme and a sense of the sacred is part of that. When I read them, that's what I feel.
Richard: Family. Identity, because I'm half: half White, half Dogrib. I was raised away from the Dogribs because my parents were taxidermists in Forth Smith. I was raised in a town that was officially quadrilingual. The Métis capital of the North: French, Chippewayan, Cree and English - is Fort Smith. It's the most beautiful place in the world. I love Fort Smith so much. I'll be buried in Fort Smith. I was born there, and I'll be buried there, because I love it so much.
I was raised away from my people, but raised with Northerners. We were very few Dogribs in the 1970's. There were very few Dogribs there. My parents went there as entrepreneurs to make money. They did very well. In my work: family, identity, culture, and the essential question: "What does it mean to be Dogrib?" Being half, I make the joke that I could be the cowboy or the Indian when we used to play guns, because I was half cowboy and half Indian. So, that's a recurring theme in my adult literature and in my children's literature.
Judi: How about your attraction for animals and your use of animals as important symbols and presences
Richard: My grandfather used to sneak into wolf dens to gather wolf cubs. He raised them, walked with the wolves, and bred them with dogs, so his dog team was half wolf, half dog.
Growing up, we have a lot of creation stories. For example, for the Dogrib people, we come from a woman who gave birth to six pups. So we have creation stories about cat, wolverine and loon. We know many secrets about the animals because we can learn from the animals on how best to live our lives.
Also, what happens in nature happens with us. That's why I like to write about animals; we always talk about them, just as they talk about us. In What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses? I said: "I learned that there's an animal on this earth who knows your secret name."
I always tell children when I read that, if there's an animal that you love, you should learn as much as you can about that animal because the most precious things are defenceless. Learn as much as you can about that animal and help them, because they may be trying to learn as much as they can about you. We're wolf clan, my family. We're wolves. I really believe that we have so much to learn from the animals because the animals watch us. They talk about us, of course. We have the greatest influence over their lives. It really is true when they say that the most precious things are defenceless. The animals of this earth are defenceless. We have a responsibility as caretakers of this earth and for the seven generations. So that's why I love to write about animals. I love learning about animals.
Judi: How did you change your adult version of the Raven story to one for children? How did you feel the voice changed? How did you feel the content changed? How is children's writing different from adult?
Richard: I put it as more of a dance. I put more of a rhythm in it. When you grow up, you grow up dancing, you grow up with song, you grow up with spirit. As you age, so many of us we stop singing, so many of us stop dancing. We think: "Oh God, please don't ask me to dance." I went back and I put a dance in there. When I read it, I can't help but sway, I think I really called that spirit of innocence back.
Judi: All of your writing sways. It's like poetry, like song, it makes me want to sing. How much of these two stories and the others that you've written are autobiographical?
Richard: A Man Called Raven is based on the Dogrib stories my mother told me of a man who loved to torture animals, but I braided that with two crazy brothers I grew up with in Calgary, when I did my Grade 3 there - Chris and Toby. They loved to torture animals.
I'm the oldest of four boys but I'm the shortest now, so I have to fight dirty. There were two stories of cruelty that my mom told me growing up. I noticed, as the oldest brother of four, that boys go through stages. Number one: dinosaurs. There's lots of little five- year-old PhD's out there who just know everything there is to know about dinosaurs. Number two: a stage of fire. They play with fire because that's their tribal memory and they're learning about power. Number three: every boy goes through a stage where they experiment with cruelty to animals, because they're learning again about power.
I took my role as the eldest brother, and I knew I wanted to write a story about cruelty to animals. I said, "I wonder what would happen if that man that my mom told me about who turned into a Raven met Chris and Toby, those two psychopaths that I grew up with in Calgary?" That's how I wrote A Man Called Raven. I braided my mother's teachings with real people, two little boys who meant horrible sorry business with the animals. They were always torturing cats or seagulls or something.
Judi: That's part of what made that story so profound in a different way from most myths or legends, because there's a very strong sense of the mythic and the real together. Were you looking for that tone?
Richard: I didn't want this to be something that didn't apply to today. I wanted it to be as relevant today - I wanted it to be culturally relevant today. I wanted kids in the city and kids in the villages and hamlets all over the world to read it. They'll understand, because everybody knows about cruelty to animals. It goes back to the truth that the most precious things are defenceless. So that's what matters to me. I never want to write something that's outdated. I want to write something that any parent anywhere can say, "This is how the Dogribs are doing it and that's how we're going to do it in this home!"
Judi: I found the mix of poetry, warmth and humour in your stories just wonderful. Could you discuss your sense of humour?
Richard: Aboriginal people are very funny. The stereotypes out there are, of course, that we're lazy, and every other stereotype there is. A lot of the humour that's on TV about us makes us look stupid. I think The Rez is atrocious. I don't like the way it makes us look. We all looked mentally delayed.
That's not how we are. We're very witty, we're very fast, we're very smart. I wanted to show how cheeky we can be, but, at the same time, how intelligent and how sincere. We are a very romantic people and we're very sincere in what we know and what we're willing to share. We're willing to welcome you into our homes to share with you our stories and that's what children's literature is all about: "I'm inviting you into our home, my home, the home I grew up in, I'm inviting you to listen to my mother's stories, my grandfather's stories, my grandmother's stories, my brother's story. I'm going to be cheeky, I'm going to tell you off, I'm going to make you laugh, I'm going to honour you, but ultimately I'm going to pass on our teachings."
That's what I like about children's literature. Also, when you write a children's book, you've written your own passport to anywhere in the world. I can walk into any school and say: "Hi, my name is Richard Van Camp, I have two children's books, I have an hour, could I please read to your children - any students, any grades." I'll always have an audience with children's literature. With adult literature it's very different, because children's literature is for everyone. It's not just for kids. There are a lot of adults out there who read nothing but children's literature, because there's a little one in all of us.
Judi: I think so. How is it different from adult literature?
Richard: There isn't always an audience for what you're trying to write because not everyone's interested in realist literature. Not everyone wants to read about Indians. Not everyone wants to read about the North. People will always think "What's in it for me? I don't know these people; I don't want to know them. That's not my reality. I want to read about the city. I don't want to read about Fort Smith, NWT." But in children's literature, the marriage between the art and the text is going to grab anybody if the artwork's gorgeous and the story means a lot.
Judi: Have you had experiences where adults have told you what your children's picture books have meant to them? Or reviews, have you seen any reviews of your books?
Richard: There are clipping services for each publisher that I work with and you get reviews whether you want them or not. Good or bad, you get them. The response has been overwhelming. We haven't received a single negative review.
I see it in the smiles when I walk into a room and can tell who's already read the book. I've been invited to the US and all across Canada to do readings for my children's literature. My adult literature has taken me all over the world now.
Judi: Have you ever given talks to adult groups about your children's books rather than just readings?
Richard: I always tell the story of how I became a writer and how I wrote A Man Called Raven and Horses, but I've never gone in front of a room and just talked specifically about children's literature.
Usually they want to hear about the adult literature. I'm missing my target audience if I say, "I want to talk about children's literature." Adults want to hear the stories; they want you to read to them. It's very hard to read a children's book to a room full of an audience that want adult literature, but I can talk to kids K-12 about children's literature.
Judi: What would you say about your sense of language?
Richard: Somebody said something once that I've never been able to forget about Horses. They said they didn't think of it as a children's book in terms of the linear sense. They thought it was a collection of poetry on every page, about horses. And I had never thought of it that way before. But when I heard that I went back and I looked at it and I could see how they could think that. They weren't interested in how linear the story was and how the causality of pages one through 18. They were so caught up in the imagery.
I knew that I wanted to introduce you to my family. I wanted to call you into my home and show you my community. You met my friend Mike - because my brother was in Costa Rica on vacation and I was over at my friend Mike's house and he was trying to quit smoking, and that's why he said - "I don't like horses." He was just so miserable. So I had to put that in.
Then my friend Heather, a poet, called from Yellowknife to talk. And I asked, "What's the most beautiful thing you know about horses?" She said, "My favourite horse is the Appaloosa because an Appaloosa is the horse with freckles." I just took it from there. Because I come from such a strong background with oral history and tradition and storytelling, I really believe Aboriginal authors can work in any genre because we are such strong storytellers. It's nothing for us to tell a story. That's how I'm able to work in any genre, whether it's a short story, screenplay, novel, or kid's book.
I basically had to take the best answer from my dad, my mom, my brother Johnny, my brother Jamie, my friend Mike, my friend Heather, then the artist George Littlechild. Then I knew I wanted to end it with some other secrets I learned about animals along the way. Like frogs are the keepers of rain. That was one of my dear friends, Morningstar Mercredi told me that. She's Chipewyan (Dene). My friend Lorny Metchooyeah who's Dene Tha' from Assumption, Alberta told me that eagles have three shadows. So I knew that I wanted to put that in but I didn't know how. I had five days and I just started to work and work and work. That was how I wrote it. I didn't strategize, I just did it.
Robert Creeley said, "Form should echo content." My form emerged from the content and the content was what everybody told me. Just because we didn't have horses didn't mean we couldn't talk about them, because we're good at gossip in Fort Smith. Boy we've got PhDs in gossip. So even if we don't know you, we can still talk about you. We don't know the horses, but we know of them. We remember them because there was a time when there were horses - many, many years ago, but the mosquitoes brought a sickness to them. It crippled them.
Judi Because oral storytelling is so much part of you, do you think your written stories differ from oral storytelling or do you have to strive for an oral voice in your written stories?
Richard: I think it's just plain there because I was born with it; I was raised with it. It's inherent. When you read The Lesser Blessed you'll see that my main character is a traditional storyteller and he's only 16. He knows so many beautiful stories, powerful stories, because he knows that stories are medicine.
Judi: Do you want to say something about that for a minute? Stories are healing and stories are strength.
Richard: Well, when you read the Good Book it says, "In the beginning was the Word." Words are powerful. Words can maim. Words can stop a life. You can stop somebody from growing. You can maim, hurt, wound - but you can also heal, you can also help somebody mend. You can give people the answers they've been looking for their whole lives in a chance encounter. When we're wounded, we go to somebody, often to hear the words that are going to give us the strength to carry on. When you've been hurt by somebody it isn't action a lot of times, it's words. You know the saying, "Only the one that hurt you can make you feel better." That's the power of the word. Stories - I'm a traditional storyteller.
When I walk into a room, I often don't know what stories I'm going to tell. After I'm done, maybe an hour later, it's not uncommon for me to have people come up to me and say, "You told my story. That was me you were talking about. How did you know?" But they called the stories from me. We're all storytellers. Every member of this human tribe. We are raised with stories, we are taught by stories, stories are how we pass on culture, law, memory. All of us have an inherent respect for stories. That's why I saw stories are good medicine. Again, you can give someone their wings back.
Judi: Do you think children's picture books can do that too?
Richard: Oh yes, oh yes. Children's literature is such incredible medicine because it speaks to the little one in all of us. You have to honour that little one inside of you. I was told once that I have a little boy inside of me that's so free and so happy and you can see that in What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses? You can see the elder in me, the storyteller and the teacher, in A Man Called Raven. The lady who told me this was Debbie Samson. She said, "Richard, keep honouring that little boy, because that's your saving grace. That little guy inside of you that's so cheeky, and so high energy, and has to wear the brightest sweaters so that when you run away from your mom she can just look out the window and see you running down Sesame StreetÑthe street I grew up on in Fort Smith. If you don't have him, if you silence him, you're going to get old fast and you're going to pack for everybody. You keep that little boy. You honour him." That's what children's literature does, it honours a little girl in you and a little boy in me.
Judi: Are there other First Nations authors who have written for children whom you admire?
Richard: Michael Kusugak.
Judi: Have you met Michael?
Richard: Yes, many times. We've done readings in Winnipeg together. I went out of my way in 1990, I think, to meet him. I was studying land claims in Yellowknife at Aurora College, and Michael was on a book tour in Yellowknife. I tracked him down and asked him questions about what it was like being a writer. I knew he wrote children's books and at that time I didn't think I was ever going to write a children's book but I was interested in him as an author in terms of what was his ritual, what was his work schedule, who was his publisher. I was more interested in the mechanics. I didn't know any authors and he was the first, true-blue author I ever met. Somebody who toured, somebody who had a publisher behind him, somebody who was working with a great artist like Vladyana Langer Krykorka. Michael put up with me for an hour in the hotel. He answered every question. Years later, I saw him again; by that time my kids' books were out. He said, "I always knew that you would go on to publish because you had it. It was already there. It was in your eyes. You knew what you wanted, you just didn't know how to get there." That's the story of so many people, especially in the world of indigenous publishing. They know they want to do it, but they don't know how. They don't know how to get the agent. They don't know how to get the publishing house. They don't know the mechanics. One of our students within the Creative Writing Department at the University of British Columbia, Nicola Campbell, just sold her first kid's book to Groundwood.
Judi: Patsy Aldana is wonderful to work with.
Richard: Patsy's already been in touch with her. So that's great news.
Judi: Are there other First Nations writers of picture books that you can think of that you admire?
Richard: I love This Land is My Land by George Littlechild. Pemmican Press has a new book called Li Minoush in Michif, the language of the Métis. It means cat. It's written by a new author, Bonnie Murray. I like W.D. Valgardson.
Judi: Did you study with him at Victoria?
Richard: I did; he was a great mentor.
Judi: He did a good job with Sarah and the People of Sand River. That raises the question of cultural appropriation. He's a good example of someone who spoke about First Nations people.
Richard: He spoke about them, he wasn't speaking for them. And he spoke about them with respect. So I respect that. I don't want to listen to a counterfeit. I want to read right from the source.
You can choose now - you can read W.P. Kinsella, for example, or you can choose to read the real work of Sherman Alexie, Robert Arthur Alexie, Drew Haydon Taylor, Jeannette Armstrong, Lee Maracle, Maurice Kenny - you name it. I don't want to be lied to. I want it right from the source.
Judi: Do you have as much to choose from in children's publishing?
Richard: Well, Jeannette Armstrong has a lot of teaching stories. Beatrice Culleton- Mosionier--she has a new children's book out with Theytus Books. It's growing. There are four Aboriginal publishers in Canada: Kegedonce Press, Theytus Books, Gabriel Dumont Society and Pemmican Press.
Judi: Why don't we take a minute on this. Where is Kegedonce located?
Richard: Cape Croker Reserve, Wiarton, Ontario.
Judi: Pemmican and Theytus publish a lot for children. Do you know if Kegedonce and Dumont are publishing much for children?
Richard: Both of them have a children's line. Another great Aboriginal children's writer is Jordan Wheeler.
Judi: Is he Canadian?
Richard: He's Métis, and he has a two-book series, with the main character Chuck Just a Walk and Chuck in the City. Beautiful books; that's rhythm right there. Tomson Highway wrote The Caribou Song.
Judi: What are your thoughts on the difference between Aboriginal writers getting known through Aboriginal publishing houses, and Aboriginal writers who are big names for their adult writing publishing with mainstream publishing houses? What are your thoughts on the difference, for instance, Thomas King and Tomson Highway?
Richard: The struggle with Aboriginal publishers is that they do not have access to the sales reps the way larger Canadian publishers do. They do not have access to the massive promotion that larger Canadian publishers have access to. Aboriginal publishers do not have access to huge financial backing. Theytus, the oldest Aboriginal publisher in Canada, has only been around for 20 years. A lot of [non-Aboriginal] publishers have been around a lot longer than that. But that's changing. For example, world indigenous literature is growing all over the world right now. The academic community is very attentive to what's going on in the indigenous level. I had an editor at the University of Queensland Press say, "Aboriginal literature is the new literature." Because if you think about it, I'm only the second literate generation of the Dogrib people. So, that's happening all over the world. Aboriginal publishers are harnessing that power and they're promoting that power. A lot of publishers are teaming up with other publishers, for example, Kegedonce Press teamed up with Jukurrpa Books of IAD Press in Australia to produce a world indigenous anthology called Skins. They've just come out with a brand new erotica anthology, world indigenous erotica. They teamed up with a New Zealand publisher, Huia Publishers, for this gorgeous collection.
So, Aboriginal publishers are finding their way with the Literary Press Group, for example, so they have access to editors and sales reps. Theytus Books is now with the Literary Press Group so they have access to editors. The challenge in the past was to have world-class copy editors combing through their work - because it is a science, a religion. Now that Aboriginal publishers are starting to have access to that, the quality of the literature is only increasing tenfold. That is going to attract the audiences and show the literature is professional. It's not good enough just to have an Indian name on an Indian book published by Indians. The integrity of any publisher is in its editing. The second I spot a typo, in any book that I read, the credibility of that publisher drops. That's not the author's fault. That's the publishing house's fault. Mistakes can occur at the publisher's office and at the printers that were not in the original manuscript. I would say then that the main difference is in the quality of the editing.
Judi: Do you feel part of the community of Canadian writers and illustrators for children?
Richard: No.
Judi: Do you know them very well?
Richard: No.
Judi: Why is that?
Richard: When I read, I read with other Aboriginal people. When I tour, I tour alone or with other Aboriginal authors. I've never shared the stage with another Canadian author reading from children's books at the same time.
Judi: Maybe that's because there are two picture books instead of ten.
Richard: I don't know why that is, but it's a really good question. I've never shared a reading with a Canadian children's author. I mean, I'll read children's books written by Canadian authors, but I've never shared the stage. I've never been compared to another Canadian author.
Judi: What languages did you speak growing up?
Richard: English and horrible high school French, which comes out in my adult literature.
Judi: Did you learn the Dogrib language at a later date?
Richard: I'm trying to learn it as an adult; it's very hard when you don't live in Dogrib territory.
Judi: Did multilingual, bilingual, Aboriginal English heritage shape your stories? The sense of language, the sense of a First Nations language.
Richard: The history of the people and the storytelling shaped me, but not the Dogrib language - unfortunately. I wish I knew it. I'm trying to reclaim it. It's a very slow and arduous journey. I know very little of my language and I've very sad about that. I'm ashamed about it actually.
Judi: Tomson Highway's two picture books are bilingual. What do you think about that?
Richard: I would love to see my books translated into Dogrib and in Cree.
Judi: Have you ever talked to anybody about that?
Richard: Nobody's ever talked to me. I don't quite know who to talk to about where to go with that.
Judi: I wouldn't know either, except maybe the publisher, maybe Tomson Highway's publisher. If they've done it once they can do it again.
Richard: That's where Aboriginal publishers come in, because they have no problem [with different languages] and you'll see that with all four of the publishers I've talked about. Look at what they're publishing. Chances are nine times out of ten it's translated into a different Aboriginal language as well.
Judi: Who do you see as your primary audience for these books? Do you think all children, or do you think First Nations first in stories that reflect something for them.
Richard: I think because I work with George Littlechild, it's for all children. He has such a huge audience of people. He's world-renowned. I've read that book in schools that are completely on-reserve, 100 percent Aboriginal and I've read in schools where there is not one Aboriginal student in the class. Each time it's a hit. I really believe my kids' books are for all ages, for all races.
Judi: Do you feel in your children's books that you have a role in creating cultural identity for First Nations children? Do you think they, in a sense, create part of Canadian culture or Canadian cultural identity?
Richard: Well Canadian cultural identity is based on Aboriginal history. I like to think that Canadian history should really uplift, uphold and respect Aboriginal history and identity. I hope that my literature is being embraced and uplifted by Canadian literature because I'm very proud to be Canadian and I'm very proud to be Dogrib.
When you travel internationally, you learn very quickly how respected Canadians are all over the world. They say "To go up against a Canadian is like slapping a nun." So we're protected. Let's not do anything to mess up that myth!
Judi: So you experience a respect for Canadians and a respect for adult Canadian literature? Do people know anything about Canadian children's literature?
Richard: No. They know a lot about Canadian authors. They know about the immigrants who have come here and have gone on to publish and win prizes. But they don't know about people who were actually born and raised here who are publishing good work.
Judi: Your children's books have been published by quite a large-sized American publisher, not a small Canadian publisher, and not an Aboriginal publisher, but in fact by a publisher that thinks of itself as multicultural. How might it have differed if it had been a Canadian publisher?
Richard: It wouldn't have received the attention it did, because you're not appreciated in your own backyard. Had it gone to a Canadian publisher or an Aboriginal publisher, I'm worried it wouldn't have gotten the publicity that it did. I mean, there's ten times the population in the US and we've done very well with the children's books. The fact that it's hardcover, the quality of the paper - it's a timeless work of art. I'm very, very proud of those books. It almost spoiled me because until I can meet a publisher who can match that, I don't want to work with them. I'm not interested in them, I don't want to dilute the quality of what I'm going to do with a publisher who can't back it up with proper marketing. I don't want my books to sit in the warehouse. I want them in homes. I want them to be read.
Judi: It's really a problem with smaller Canadian publishers with less money and less people to buy them.
Richard: Do you know how long the shelf life is for a Canadian book in any bookstore here in Vancouver? Three weeks. You've got three weeks before they send it back. There are ten thousand books published every year in Canada. That's a lot of books - too many for the country to digest properly. Imagine publishing with a smaller publisher without access to promotional dollars or sales reps. You don't stand much of a chance, do you? That's what it's like for a lot of Canadian authors and this is where the internet and word of mouth come in. Can I just say God bless our librarians, teachers, book lovers, book club leaders, teacher-librarians, Sessional teachers, professors, instructors - everyone who loves to read and has the power to get the word out about quality literature, because without them, the publishing industry within this country would sink pretty quick!
Judi: Children's bookstores aren't the same, but I think of it as books-as-rutabagas syndrome. They think they're going to rot on the shelf. The small Canadian publishers have said that when they try to sell rights into the American market, and that American publishers very often want them to change the place names or a sense of identity to make it generically North American so they can sell better in the States. Horses begins:
Richard: "It's the coldest day of the year."
Judi: " . . . in my hometown of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories of Canada." What I said was, "If this was a Canadian publisher for children trying to survive by selling into the American market, it wouldn't be published with that first sentence."
Richard: I'm happy I bypassed [Canadian publishers] and went straight to the US because we immediately went into a huge market with two books of great quality in terms of story, message and presentation.
Judi: I wonder if Children's Book Press didn't see your story as Canadian. Did they see it simply as Aboriginal and not Canadian? Did you have discussions on what do you think they were looking for?
Richard: When you read on their website, they always say, "In Canada's Northwest Territories." Because if you just say "Northwest Territories" without adding Canada, the reader could think that was Australia, so you have to be careful. They use that to locate. I do know of authors who have been asked to change names. Some have and some haven'--Mostly in adult writing.
Judi: I thought that was more common in children's writing. How important do you think the specificity of regionalism is to making a story real or authentic?
Richard: I'll only ever write about the Northwest Territories, because that's where I'm from. With my adult literature, I have a couple of short stories that are in different cities outside of the North, but I'm going to write about who I am and where I'm from.
Judi: Whether for children or adults?
Richard: Whether for children or for adults. Because I'm from the North and I love the North and I'm proud of it. I want the world to know about the North. I want the world to know where I'm from and I want the world to know how my people and my fellow Northerners are. I want the world to know how friendly, how fun, how majestic, how pristine, how fabulous the Northwest Territories is. I'm very proud of the Northwest Territories.
Judi: Thank you
Richard: Mahsi cho, Judi!
Storytellers run on instinct in a dance of trust, says Van Camp
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Monday, March 22nd, 2021 2:44pm
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Richard Van Camp
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Richard Van Camp with the cover of his new book Gather: Richard Van Camp on the Joy of Storytelling, available for pre-order.
Summary
“A good storyteller reminds you that all storms pass. We’re here to help. We’re here to serve. As the book says, a true northerner always leaves each person and each place better than they found them.” — Richard Van Camp
By Shari Narine
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Windspeaker.com
Richard Van Camp can’t talk about his soon-to-be-released book Gather without demonstrating what it’s all about.
In a recent interview with Windspeaker.com, Van Camp’s answers easily and naturally turn into storytelling, the theme of his contribution to the Writers on Writing series by the University of Regina Press.
Storytelling is about “sensing with every cell inside of your spirit and body what needs to be said and what needs to be told, what needs to be shared. So you’re running on instinct all the time,” said Van Camp.
“Often you don’t know why you’re telling the story you are, but there’s always that acknowledgement, (someone saying) ‘I really needed that today. Thank you.’ You become a channeler for stories. The more you tell, the better you become.”
Van Camp is Tlicho Dene from Fort Smith, N.W.T., and is both a bestselling author and a master storyteller.
In 1996, when he was touring to promote his acclaimed first novel The Lesser Blessed he realized that he needed to balance the “kick through your soul” story with being “raised in paradise.” He was soon drawing in the people who came out for the literary event with his “miracle story after miracle story” of the north.
Van Camp first started gathering stories as a volunteer driver of the handi-bus in his hometown. With the permission of the Elders he was transporting, he began recording their stories. Soon he was gathering stories from Elders from a variety of locations.
“I’m so lucky, because we were raised with so many wonderful stories,” he said.
Van Camp firmly believes that everybody wants to tell their story and that doesn’t necessarily mean addressing a roomful of people. It could be as simple as sharing with an audience of one: a taxi driver, a hairdresser or a stranger on the airplane. Or, in his case, a handi-bus driver.
“We all have stories to tell. All of us. Every single one of us. I think we tell our own stories our own way, whether you’re a blogger, you’re on snapchat or you’re tweeting… We’re all looking for the backstage pass into people’s lives,” he said.
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Van Camp believes that when people hear a good story they want to share it at the supper table or around the water cooler.
“When you’re in the presence of a storyteller, you just can’t wait to share those great stories. I think it’s a medicine we all want more of in our lives,” he said.
“That’s the gift of a good storyteller. A good storyteller reminds you that all storms pass. We’re here to help. We’re here to serve. As the book says, a true northerner always leaves each person and each place better than they found them.”
Van Camp shares his insights on how to wow the room in a chapter entitled “The Cheat Sheet! aka Uncle Richard Van Camp’s Storytelling Tips.”
Breaking down his technique to 15 tips through 25 years of storytelling experience wasn’t difficult, he admits, as he often delivers keynote speeches for teachers and businesses.
“Why not share the most fantastic part of your life first to just humanize yourself and really stagger your audience with awe? That’s really what it’s about. Greeting the room. Gauging what the room needs and really going from there because storytelling is, of course, a collaboration. It’s a dance of trust,” he said.
He adds that the “dance of trust” is personal and meant only for those within the room. Van Camp won’t allow people to record his storytelling sessions.
“The stories that are in the room at that time with the faces I see on the screens, those are the stories that have been called… I want it to be a spectacular event. I want it to be about spirit. I want it to be about miracles. I want it to be hilarious and inspiring,” he said.
In Gather Van Camp points out that each of his books ends with an acknowledgement of where his stories came from.
A novelist, he says, can “beg, borrow, steal” to get the story done, but not so the storyteller.
“When you are gifted by story, you have a life debt to that storyteller. I have a life debt to all those storytellers. Each one has been paid, a contract has been signed, a copy of the book (given). But it’s more than that,” he said. “There is a protocol. There is a debt and an honouring forever.”
Gather: Richard Van Camp on the Joy of Storytelling will be available in May. It can be pre-ordered now at https://uofrpress.ca/Books/G/Gather
An Interview with Richard Van Camp
by Tanya Andrusieczko Nov 21, 2016 4 min read Share
Richard Van Camp
Richard Van Camp is Briarpatch’s creative non-fiction judge in the 6th annual Writing in the Margins contest.
You work across several genres, including short stories, poetry, children’s books, scripts, and graphic novels. How do you decide which form will be the best fit for the story you want to tell?
The story is the boss. Always. Twenty years of writing working with10 different publishers, it always comes back to that first flash, that first whisper, that channeling. I’ll always be a student of the craft and I read all the time. I’m also incredibly nosy. There’s nothing like working on a story, honing it, rewrite rewrite rewrite, and then having it done. Leaving it alone and returning to it and feeling the awe, knowing you’ve honoured it. It’s chosen you. You’ve honoured the spirit of the piece to the best of your ability. Now it’s time to decide: what is it? Where can it best go? That’s actually were the work begins. Then it’s working with your editor to take it even deeper.
What do you consider to be your first accomplishment in writing, or the first time you felt that a life in writing was going to work out for you?
My first book, The Lesser Blessed, came out 20 years ago. We’re celebrating our new edition: the 20th anniversary with two extra short stories and a new intro by moi. I wouldn’t change a word in the novel. It took me five years to write. That’s how craft is born: taking the time, rewrite rewrite rewrite, working with an incredible editor like Barbara Pulling. I always go back to that first moment when I held my novel for the first time. There’s the late Tim Atherton cover. There’s the feathered pages. Look at those French flaps! I have total recall for that moment because I’ve had 19 of those ever since and it’s always such a celebration. Each book is a year to a year and a half of my life. So that moment not only launched a writer, it launched an author and an entrepreneur. You can make a great living as a writer. I’m living proof! :)
How do you work with the oral storytelling tradition in your writing?
I need oral storytelling in my life as a listener because I’m always filtering the pauses, the slang, the rockabilly of pacing, the delivery. When I listen to a master storyteller or someone just sharing a story, I’m studying how they’re talking and how they’re standing, and what the pitch is in their voice. I can sometimes take their techniques and put them into a story.
Oral storytelling is also where the magic is for me. I read all the time, but I crave a great visit filled with stories, laughter, grief, sadness, truth. I’m energized by sharing and bless the storytellers because those have always been my greatest teachers.
What do you consider to be the most interesting potential of writing to challenge social relations of power?
“A Mother’s Tale” by James Agee is the short story…is the story that creates vegetarians. I never forgot that story. I eat meat but it takes a lot for me to eat beef because of this short story. Thanks, James. :( I’ve used storytelling to get readers to question the development of the tar sands. Please read “On the Wings of This Prayer” in my short story collection Godless but Loyal to Heaven for nightmares. I’ve used writing comic books and graphic novels to for sexual health education (“Kiss Me Deadly”), restorative justice (“Three Feathers”, peacemaking where an ehtsi, a grandmother, is the hero of the story (“A Blanket of Butterflies”) and you can plant seeds of light in readers.
What’s the best thing you’ve read recently, and what does it say about what you consider to be good writing?
I just finished It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. It was recommended to me by someone who works at Chapters. We were talking about books that we return to time and time again for soul renewal and truth. Mine’s Indiscretion by Charles Dubow. “It Ends With Us” is completely riveting. Holy moly. It’s dialogue driven and the pages turn themselves. Both of these books are life’s works. I don’t have to read anything else these authors have written because they nailed it for me in both of these novels. I can’t imagine how long it took to forge both books but they were perfect reads for me. I’m grateful to both authors. I want to be that great.
Mind you, I’ve been reading The Walking Dead, the comic, for 10 years and it only gets better. I had a chance to thank Robert Kirkman in person at a comicon in Honolulu this year and I told him he deserves the Pulitzer Prize for Literature because any writer who can keep me on the edge of my seat for 10 plus years deserves the very best.
Do you have advice for writers who want to enter Briarpatch’s sixth annual Writing in the Margins contest?
Sing your holy thunder. Bring your very best. Wound me with what you’ve written.
I just read a two page short story by Sherman Alexie yesterday: “Emigration” (in his collection, Blasphemy) and it’s this perfect galaxy. Whether it’s an 80 page novella or one page novel or a short story of short stories, bring your very best. Teach me something; show me something; break my heart; devastate me; give me the giggles; make me blush; move me and I’m yours. :)
Mahsi cho.
The Chat with Richard Van Camp
By Trevor Corkum · May 13, 2021 · Tagged The Chat, Richard Van Camp, storytelling, Indigenous
Author Richard Van Camp is a celebrated and beloved storyteller who has worked across many genres. His latest offering, Gather: On the Joy of Storytelling (University of Regina Press), shares what he knows about the power of storytelling—and offers some of his own favourite stories from Elders, friends, and family.
Richard Van Camp by William Au Photography
Author Richard Van Camp is a celebrated and beloved storyteller who has worked across many genres. His latest offering, Gather: On the Joy of Storytelling (University of Regina Press), shares what he knows about the power of storytelling—and offers some of his own favourite stories from Elders, friends, and family.
Richard Van Camp is a proud Tlicho Dene from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories and is the author of over twenty books, including the Eisner-nominated graphic novel, A Blanket of Butterflies. His bestselling novel The Lesser Blessed has been made into a movie that has also received critical acclaim. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta. You can visit Richard on Facebook, Twitter and at www.richardvancamp.com.
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Trevor Corkum: Gather explores the power of storytelling and in particular, the power and gifts of storytellers in creating and maintaining community. Why was this book important to write?
Gather_cover
Richard Van Camp: It has been one of the sweetest joys throughout my life to record, transcribe, upload and share stories from my Elders and Knowledge Keepers with their permission for readers and listeners to enjoy. Gather is my opportunity to share this joy and share a few insights into the craft of storytelling because it is an art that benefits everyone. As well, I share so many of the stories that have helped guide my life as a Tlicho Dene and as a father and as a son and husband and friend and author. You get to read—word for word—from the actual storytellers that I believe in and the stories they share will knock your socks off.
TC: Gather includes stories from Elders whose wisdom has had a big impact on your own life. What’s your earliest memory of storytelling in your own life—either as a listener or a teller?
RVC: The great Chipewyan Bush Cook David King once told me that a bear always knows what you’re thinking. He shared that with me when I was around seven in Fort Smith, NWT. That was the moment. That was the moment I felt the blood rush of a great story holding me. I also realized then in that moment, under his spell and the wisdom in that statement, that the medicine I needed in my life would not be written in any book: the medicine I needed and wanted in my life was with the Elders, the Knowledge Keepers, the storytellers.
TC: Was there a particular moment in your own life when you knew you wanted to be (or already were) a professional storyteller?
RVC: When I was touring The Lesser Blessed in 1996, I realized that I could do a literary reading and affect the audience over and over and that was great the first few times, but what I quickly realized was if I started sharing why I wrote the book and the stories that I heard growing up—it became more of a great visit than a literary event and readers were enjoying the storytelling just as much as listening to me read.
Equally important, I was engaged as a presenter. I couldn’t wait to share excerpts from my novel, but I also couldn’t wait to share great stories from Fort Smith, NWT: my heartland. Canadians and Northerners love to visit. When I started touring internationally, it was the same feeling of visiting and promoting my work and the North and Canada, too.
TC: In one very practical section of the book, you give us a cheat sheet ("Uncle Richard Van Camp’s Storytelling Tips.") One bit of advice involves finding a mentor, and another finding an apprentice. In your experience, what most holds folks back from stepping into the power and privilege of storytelling, either as storyteller or audience?
RVC: I was so lucky to volunteer as the Handi Bus driver in my community of Fort Smith, NWT. That was when I was welcomed into the homes of our matriarchs like Irene Sanderson, Maria Brown, Emelia Gratrix, Seraphine Evans, and Rosa Mercredi. I feel they could tell I was searching for what it meant to be a Fort Smither, a Northerner, Tlicho Dene and they started sharing their stories with me, and I started recording them with permission. So I was welcomed in a good way into the stories, teachings, lessons and memories of these great leaders. I think there are so many listeners out there just waiting to be welcomed into story by those who know. My advice is start volunteering. There are so many Elders out there waiting to share their stories.
TC: Finally, why is the community or communal aspect of storytelling so crucial?
RVC: When I upload a video of a Love Song Competition (check out my YouTube channel), when I digitize photos from various archives or portraits I’ve taken 20 years ago, or when I convert an audio interview I did back in 1992 for my SoundCloud account, what I’m contributing to is the pride and dignity of a storyteller’s legacy. I’m helping to bring a smile and even more pride to their families, their descendants, their community, their Nations, and we are building bridges to a greater understanding of what the beliefs and traditions and culture is of that storyteller.
I’m helping to bring a smile and even more pride to their families, their descendants, their community, their Nations, and we are building bridges to a greater understanding of what the beliefs and traditions and culture is of that storyteller.
It’s a great way to be remembered: as someone who dedicated his life to recording and honouring the stories of others.
We are all so lonely for visiting. That’s where the storytellers come in. They remind everyone that all storms pass and we are here to work together and help one another. Storytellers bring light and hope and renew faith and remind listeners that there is a greater plan at play. We are all children in the great mystery of life.
Mahsi cho. Thank you very much.
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Excerpt from Gather
Here’s a game for you to help you get talking as you start to gather with people—even if it must be virtually! They are prompts to get an evening of storytelling going with your family, or a morning gathering with your classroom, or an intimate setting of friends. These are great for all ages, including kids.
My favourite memory of myself is the time ___.
My favourite memory of you is ___.
The medicine power I’ve inherited from our family is ____, and I can prove it with this story: ____.
The medicine power I’ve inherited from my friends is ____, and here’s a story of how this came to be ____.
My biggest wish for my family is that we ____, and here’s why: ____.
My biggest wish for your family is _____.
The funniest thing that happened to me this year is the time _____.
What I remember most from Dad or Mom or Aunty or Uncle is _____, and here’s why: _____.
One of the biggest gifts you’ve brought to my life is _____, and here’s why: _____.
My first memory of you is ______.
I can prove that the world is magic with this story: _____.
I was given my name because ______.
I adore you because ______.
I want to be remembered for _____.
The time I laughed so hard I cried was when _____.
An Interview with Richard Van Camp (December 2008)
December 1, 2008
by Jordan Wilson
Introduction
Richard Van Camp
Richard Van Camp is a proud member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation from Fort Smith, NWT, Canada. A graduate of the En’owkin International School of Writing, the University of Victoria’s Creative Writing BFA Program, and the Master’s Degree in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, Richard currently teaches Creative Writing with an Aboriginal Focus at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. He is also an online instructor with the Emily Carr Institute teaching Creative Writing and Storytelling. As well, Richard works with Musqueam First Nations youth with the Musqueaum Youth Project.
—NativeWiki.org
Jordan Wilson is a third year undergraduate student in the Faculty of Arts and a member of the Musqueam Indian Band. He plans to double-major in First Nations Studies and English Literature.
Video
Transcript
Richard Van Camp (RVC ): Hey everybody my name is Richard Van Camp and I am a member of the Dogrib First Nations from Fort Smith, NWT, and I teach at the University of British Columbia. I also work with Musqueam First Nations Youth, and I am an author and a storyteller.
Jordan Wilson (JW): When did you first start writing?
RVC: I started writing when I was 19 years old. And do you want to know why? Very simple. The reason I started writing was because when I grew up in Fort Smith I loved to read and I loved to tell stories and I loved to gossip and I loved to listen, and one of the things I noticed when I was growing up was that, I loved reading Stephen King and Pat Lane and I loved reading Pat Conroy and I loved reading Judy Blume and S.E. Hinton. When I was 19 I realized that nobody was telling my story. Nobody was writing about the beauty and the challenges of growing up in the NWT. Nobody was telling my story. So when I was 19 I remember it was a very conscious decision I said I am going to tell the world about how beautiful it is up here in the NWT. I’m going to tell my truth, I’m going to tell my stories, I’m going to tell the stories of my family, my cousins, my friends. I’m going to tell my story and I’m going to write something that I would like to read. And that’s how I became a writer. It took me five years to write The Lesser Blessed so I’m a slow-poke. Very very slow.
JW: Did you ever see yourself being a published author?
RVC: When I was growing up I wanted to be a ninja, so anything more than that, anything other than tribal warfare or espionage I think isn’t necessarily a step-up but I didn’t have time to get nervous because it took me 5 years to write The Lesser Blessed and I had an agent for this project, her name is Carolyn Swayze, she sold it in two weeks. So before I knew it we were working on our re-writes. And it was out within a year of signing so … Very very proud of it. Wouldn’t change a word. It’s been out for over ten years now and I wouldn’t change a word. It’s going to be turned into a movie. We start shooting this year in Manitoba and in the NWT.
JW: Did you expect to see your writing turned into a movie?
RVC: I think I’m a cinematic writer. I always see the scenes I write so cinematically, so largely, I’m not surprised. It’s a beautiful story.
JW: Did you work on the adaptation of The Lesser Blessed from the novel to script?
RVC: Good question. Anita Doron who is the director is writing the adaptation so she’s in charge of the screenplay. Which is great because I am so busy right now working on my new collection of short stories, I have a new novel coming out this year, I have two comic books coming out this year, I’m so busy that I don’t think I could do the project justice, and in a way when you write a novel, here’s the good news, when you write a novel it doesn’t matter what happens because nobody wants to make a bad movie. But if anything happens to the movie good, bad or ugly, you can say you know what, read the book. You’ve got to read the book. And I think what will happen is a lot of people will watch the movie and go oh my God I better read the novel.
JW: The Lesser Blessed deals with a lot of darker subject matter, like substance abuse, and sexual abuse. What’s it like working with that kind of material?
RVC: Well, it seems to me because I work in all genres, I have a baby book out and two children’s books with George Littlechild and a collection of short stories and a novel and the new novel Blessing Wendy is out at the end of this year. And I was saying to friends a little while ago that it seems that I put my love and my celebration and my hope and my joy for humanity in my baby book and my children’s stories and in my storytelling and it seems that I put my pain, it seems that I put my worry for humanity, but it also seems that I put my hope as well, all my adult stuff is laced with divinity, with hope, with medicine, with healing. The Lesser Blessed, as dark as it is, the message is hope at the end. With Blessing Wendy the message will be forgiveness, and peace, peace within oneself. So yes, I do deal with dark subject matter, not to the blood and meat and hair that Eden Robinson does, or Robert Arthur Alexie or sometimes even Sherman Alexie, or even Thomas King’s new collection of short stories is very very dark, many of them, a very un-Thomas King thing to do, do you know what I mean? So yes, I’m guilty of writing dark, brutal stuff, but it’s worth it, because you need conflict for drama, and conflict reveals characters and why not? We live in a very interesting world where anything can happen. Very interesting.
JW: Do you ever find it difficult to make the transition from writing the darker subject matter and writing the children’s books?
RVC: Well I think one of the, one of my skills, being the oldest of four boys, being a champion babysitter when I was growing up, was I multi-task. And so everyday when I get up, so yesterday for example I worked exclusively on Blessing Wendy, a very very dark scene the novel has taken a turn to the darkest in a way that I wasn’t expecting. One of the characters surprised me very very much, and I won’t get into it, I won’t spill the beans. However today, we have a deadline with this comic book I’m working on, on gang violence and physical fitness. So today was all about the comic book. So I have to be really careful not to carry a children’s literature charm and light and joy into a manuscript that is for adults. It doesn’t work that way. So I just take each day as it comes and I focus on the story that needs to be told today. So tomorrow I leave on a plane for Saskatoon to do a keynote there at the University of Saskatchewan. There won’t be any time so how I do what I do is I just take it very very simple. If I thought about it all at once my spine would snap and my kidneys would shut down. So as it stands right now, get up, put the coffee on and say “what do I feel like today? Okay here we go, let’s dive intoBlessing Wendy, the novel.”
JW: You introduced yourself as an author and a storyteller. Is there a difference between these two types of storytelling (the written word versus the spoken)?
RVC: I believe there is. I think all great storytelling is really just good visiting. And I find that the world is hungry for storytellers now more than ever because when you think about it, we are truly an over-stimulated society, I mean, I’ll give you an example. This past Thanksgiving I was on Vancouver Island with my family and one of our dear friends and we lost power. For two hours there were 20,000 people without power. Luckily, we had just pulled the turkey out of the oven, we had one cheap little candle with one little match left in the house. We had mashed potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, we had veggies, we had you name it, we had it and we ate by candle light and it was two hours of peace. No internet, oh I gotta update my Facebook, the phone wasn’t ringing, we couldn’t run away and play the X-box, we were forced to sit down and enjoy a great meal by candlelight, and to this day our whole family says “wasn’t that the best Thanksgiving ever?” They’re like “yeah it was the best thanksgiving ever” because there was nothing else to do but visit and catch up and gossip and tell stories about our family. Whereas the written word, when it comes to me I am just the slowest of the slow, right, The Lesser Blessed has taken me 5 years, I have a novel I’ve been 12 years now working on. I take my sweet time, so there is a difference because you’re working with a different kind of medicine power, you’re working with a different spirit. With storytelling, when I take the stage or I go in front of an audience, it’s a dance of trust. I’m trusting the stories that I am telling and I am trusting that there are people in the room who welcome those stories and who need those stories and who need those stories. Whereas with writing, I write for myself first. I’m writing a story that I would like to read. And I’m trusting that when the book is published, the book will find the right people who need it, that story in that particular time of their life.
JW: Do the stories that you tell end up in your printed work?
RVC: A lot of those stories, Jordan, started off as anecdotes that I would tell people as I was either doing stand-up comedy or some storytelling, and it would be, I would hear people saying “can you tell me that story again, one more time about the guys who used to go streaking at midnight in Fort Smith” and I went “hey, we’re really on to something here,” that resonates, because as soon as I started to tell that story about a young man in our community who used to go streaking every time he drank, it would get a chuckle, and it seems that there’s a secret society of streakers everywhere in the world and that was how my short story “Dogrib Midnight Runners” was born because the gentleman who used to run naked every time we drank ended up taking his own life. And so I wanted to write about something that not a lot of people know about and that is in the North there are a lot of cultures living together. So there’s, where I’m from in Fort Smith, we have Chipewyan, Cree, French and English. Traditionally, the Cree, Chipewyan and Dogrib were enemies. And yet now, we need each other more than ever, politically, socially, and now there’s intermarriage, thank goodness there’s intermarriage. And what not a lot of people know is in a small town like Fort Smith if somebody from a rich family or somebody from a family that isn’t Aboriginal or a family, something that happens to a family that is Aboriginal, the whole town grieves, the whole family pulls together and we’ve seen that out in Musqueam, I saw that when I lived up at Bella Bella or in Kamloops. Humans are good at crisis. And what interests me is how each group and individual grieves. Where do they put their grief? That’s what really interests me. What do people do with their grief today? When grief isn’t really welcomed in the work place, or grief, even in certain circles of friends, it’s a sign of weakness to express grief. So that’s what the short story collection is dealing with, its exploring the healing and the grieving and its also what Blessing Wendy is about, its about where does a young man put his grief after he learns that the principal molested his cousin. And his cousin is developmentally delayed and deaf. So where does he put that spirit of revenge. That’s what I’m working with.
JW: You mentioned that you work with Musqueam youth. What is it like working with a new generation of young Aboriginal authors?
RVC: I’ve been working with the Musqueam Youth Project now for over 5 years and it’s the jewel of my life. I really, really love it. It’s because I love the kids, I care very much for the kids. We have a core of about 10 students, aged 14 to 21 who show up every Wednesday out at the band office at Musqueam and its actually inspiring because you see all this life and love waiting for these students and my job, with the help of many other instructors as well, is, our job, is to give them as much support as we can in a safe environment for whatever it is that they want to do. We bring in role models, we bring in artists, we bring in filmmakers, we bring in writers, we brought in Dr. Evan Adams once. The key is to start planting seeds of light within all the students; the key is also to help them become better writers. We were very proud of our students when many of them were published inRedwire Magazine and I mean they were published for the very first time, their artwork and their writing. We have pen pals now with, between our group and the Queen Charlotte Islands, the NWT, my old high school, and we have pen pal letters set up with Van Tech secondary, we have pen pal letters set up with a group in Victoria. So it’s wonderful to see these students some of whom are reluctant readers sitting down and asking for more time as they begin write and complete their pen pal letters. So that’s what we’re doing tonight when we get there, we have pen pal letters from the Queen Charlotte Islands and they’re excited, everyone is excited to get to work and write back their responses. We also read a novel a term. Twilight is the one we read last year, and it was great. We finished it the week before we went to see the movie. We have also read Deadly Loyalties by Jennifer Storm, and we read The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor, and we have also read a beautiful book calledInside Out which deals with schizophrenia, so it will be interesting to see what books our students want to read next, because we’re taking a break for two months, because it’s the time of the smokehouse, the bighouse, and then we’ll get back together at the end of February when all the ceremony is done, and we’ll pick up again for 2009. I love it, its inspiring to see these students, not only just students, but they become like dear friends to me. And I’m lucky to have the support that I do with Vivian Campbell as well, and I co-teach it with Vivian and Ryann James and we are supervised and supported by Leona Sparrow. I’m grateful. The writing project is something I wished I had when I was growing up because ultimately as you know, the most important thing you can give anyone in the world, no matter what age, is a support system and a cheerleader. If you’ve got an army of people who believe in you how can you not succeed? That’s what I love about the Musqueam Youth Project.
JW: Would you consider yourself a “Native Literary Nationalist”?
RVC: My answer to that is ‘no’. What is interesting is that I wanted to be a land claims negotiator for the Dogrib, I went to Aurora College in Yellowknife, at that time it was called Arctic College and I took a course called Native Management Studies. And I had an instructor there named Ron Klassen and he really believed in my writing and he literally just stopped me one day and said “don’t give your life to politics, don’t do it! You’re a writer, you need to be with other writers. Go to the En’owkin Writing Centre in Penticton. Go. Go, go go. Don’t ever look back, just go, trust me on this.” And I did. And I’m not into … I think writers can be more effective sometimes than politicians because again, what you are doing is planting seeds of light and I don’t just write for the Dogrib Indians I write for everybody. I write for the world. Like that’s what I love about getting published in The Walrusor The Vancouver Review or Prairie Fire or Grain or Descant, all these literary magazines, because your audience is the world. And you’re a fool to think these days otherwise. Why wouldn’t you want to write for the world, it also including your own nation, do you know what I mean? Yes, so that’s a very good question. I don’t think I’m a literary nationalist. I just want to write beautiful stories.
JW: It has been noted that you were the first published Dogrib author. Have there been any others published since then?
RVC: If there are I certainly haven’t heard of them. I’m hoping that I’m still not the only one.
JW: Is there more writing out now that speaks to the experience of being young and Aboriginal in the Northwest Territories?
RVC: There really still isn’t. Not that I can think of. I can’t think of any other teen novels that deal with hard hitting issues from an aboriginal perspective. I can’t think of any. I look forward to seeing those. I know in my lifetime I will see many many Northern authors coming out. I know in my lifetime I will see many Dogrib authors going off to get published, and Chipewyan and Cree and Dehcho Dene and Gwich’in and Mountain and Hare. I have no doubt in my lifetime I will see many many changes in that way.
JW: What’s it like going into different communities as an author?
RVC: Oh it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful because, it’s wonderful to know that your work has reached places that you haven’t gone yet physically and it’s wonderful when you go in front of a crowd or you go in front of a classroom or when you go in front of a conference and people have read your work and they’re so eager to learn more about your process or they worry about the characters you’ve created. It’s a magic carpet ride each and every time. What’s beautiful is even if somebody doesn’t know who you are or what you’ve written that’s okay because I can recommend ten great novels or children’s books that are right off the bat Aboriginal literature that I just know you’re going to love. I’m happy either way. It’s always an honour to be invited anywhere and I do a lot of travelling, and I do it because I love it. It’s actually one of the best parts of the job of being an author is being able to travel, work with youth or work with adults, get them going with their own writing, their own stories, again planting those seeds of light and getting them to realise their goals in the craft of writing. That’s what makes me very happy. Or helping somebody get a book deal. I’ll give you an example. I just got an email on Facebook yesterday. There was a young lady who came up to me out at Xa:ytem in Mission at the traditional pit houses out there. I did some storytelling out there twice last year and this young lady came up to me and she had so much energy and she goes “yeah, I’m working on a series of novels right now” and I was looking at her and I went “good for you, you look 15” and she goes “yeah, so what do I do? How do I get an agent, how do I…” I said “well actually, Orca Book Publishers, my publisher, is looking right now, they read everything that comes across their desk, you don’t need an agent” she goes “great well how do I do it?” I said “well, here’s there website, just go on there they’ll tell you exactly how to submit” and she e-mailed me last night, so within two months she’s sold her first book deal. This is what I like. Let’s help people.
JW: Did you have any mentors when you were an aspiring young author?
RVC: I remember, I remember one day Michael Kusugak was in town in Yellowknife, and I called him up, I think I called every hotel until he answered. And he was like “Hello?” And I was like “Michael Kuzegak! Its Richard Van Camp.” And he was like “Who?” And I said “Richard Van Camp.” And he said “Oh yes, yes, Richard Van Camp,” he had no idea who I was, a very grateful gentleman. And I will be seeing him tomorrow in Saskatoon, this is the funny part. He and I are keynotes at this conference, so I’ll tell this story. And I ended up going into, he was like “Oh yeah, I’m out here.” I think it was at the Motel 66 or something. Or no, it was at the Yellowknife Inn, when the Yellowknife Inn was still up. He goes “Yeah I’m at the Yellowknife Inn. Come on by, we’ll have coffee. I want to hear about your writing.” Because I said, “I want to be a writer.” And so he listened to me, he gave me plenty of time, and we had coffee in his hotel room, and for him, what shocked me was he wasn’t trying to talk me out of it. He said “Well of course, you should probably find an agent, and you should you know, yeah I work with great editors” and he was like the most natural, and he was like “yeah, this is a job, why wouldn’t you want to do this?” And I just couldn’t believe it, there were no roadblocks so I’m very grateful that he was the first Aboriginal author that I’d ever met, he was working in his field, he was on tour, he was making a great living doing what he was doing, and he was like “get on in here with me, let’s do it.” So what an honour to spend time with Michael. My mentors were my authors, whether it was Judy Blume, or S.C. Hinton or Stephen King and especially Pat Conroy because Pat Conroy does huge honkin’ novels which are timeless. Those were my mentors, were the authors that I was reading. And also the comic book artists and illustrators and writers as well. I grew up loving comic books.
JW: You’ve been involved with some comic books yourself. Would you like to talk about that project?
RVC: Sure, I work with the Healthy Aboriginal Network, so far I’ve been a copy editor, and an editor for our series of comics so far. So we have comics that deal with suicide prevention, diabetes prevention, gambling addiction and staying in school. We’ve sold over 100,000 copies of our comic books, we’re thrilled. Publisher’s name is Sean Muir, he lives just up the street, Oak and 32nd, and Steve Sanderson is our main artist, and he is a true auteur, he writes storyboards and illustrates his comic books. We have four comic books out with Steve. We’re just over the moon that we keep getting these big contracts to deal with tough issues. So the two comic books that I’m working on, the first one is about gang violence and physical fitness, because we want to steer our youth away from gangs and the other one is dealing with sexually transmitted infection. Where I’m from in the NWT there’s been a horrible outbreak of syphilis. Not only in the NWT but in northern Alberta, and also gonorrhea and Chlamydia are through the roof throughout the NWT. So we are in negotiations now to finalize a contract to do an STI, sexually transmitted infection comic book, and what I love about working on comic books, is it’s, you’re holding a movie in your hands. And as you know, in our communities, we have reluctant readers. Comic books seem to be the way we can reach all ages very very quickly. And we just, I like what Sean said, we just write great stories that have an issue in the background. So you get the message loud and clear but at the same time, you’re seeing culturally relevant material being presented to you in a good way. And Steve Sanderson is a great artist. Great artist. So this is what I’m working on. My deadline is actually today for my comic book.
JW: You’ve published storybooks for children, short stories, and a novel which is also being turned into a movie. Are there any other mediums you would like to work with?
RVC: Good question. I think I’ve published in just about every genre so far, whether its poetry … There’s a new genre called the one-page novel. I’ve yet to tackle the one-page novel. Maybe that will be next on my list. But right now my focus is doing the best I can because Blessing Wendy is my baby right now and I want it to be dark, I want it to be, I was saying to a friend yesterday, when you publish with Orca, and when you publish with any big company, they send you an author’s questionnaire first, so I just filled mine out this morning. And they ask you some pretty key questions because they send them out to sales reps and media before your book is published. And what it does is really sets the tone for how your author interviews are going to go, whether you’re on television, radio or in print. And so, one of the questions that they ask you, which is a really good question, is “How is this novel different from any other novel that’s out there?” Wow, what a great question. And there are some novels that really dare you to think, and re-think society, especially young society. So Lord of the Flies for example. There’s a reason we’re still talking about it. Really? Would they really do that? Absolutely they would really do that. It’s a strong possibility that people can regress to that kind of terror and horror and animalistic ferocity. There’s another book by Jim Shepherd called Project X and it’s about two best friends who start to plan another Columbine. And I remember I was down at the, way down in the United States to the Northern Arizona Book Festival and Jim Sheppard got up and he did a reading out of Project X and I remember sitting up in chair going “You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re actually writing this? Why would you do that?” But I tell you, the line-up for this book, I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean, it was just, there were about 100 people in line to … I think who in their own way were trying to understand what went on behind the Columbine massacre. I think Eden Robinson does a really good job of tapping into the darkness of humanity, especially with her last novelBloodsports. And Blessing Wendy, I said I wanted to be a marvel in forgiveness, terror, and peace. And so that’s what I’m working with right now, is that this is a very Conan story. This about a young boy who starts to train as a ninja for revenge with the principal in the fictional town of Fort Simmer. There’s a reason I’ve created Fort Simmer. It’s a fictional community where anything can happen. If I had done this story in Fort Smith it might trigger people from Fort Smith with things that have happened in our history that people still don’t want to talk about. I think when you create a fictional community in a way you’re creating a safe place for people to read and not be triggered, in a way you’re being a ninja yourself as the author by giving a community that doesn’t exist on paper but can really be anywhere. It can be Fort Smith, it can be Hay River, it can be the ghost of Pine Point, it can be a little bit of Inuvik, it can be a suburb of Yellowknife. We know this place. That’s what interests me. So the town is taking on more of a characteristic this time around, more than The Lesser Blessed. That’s very surprising to me this time.
JW: Anything else you would like to talk about?
RVC: Nothing else, bud. I’m good Jordan. Thank you. I feel good, I feel like this was a good interview! Thank you. Mahsi Cho!
INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR RICHARD VAN CAMP
Aug 22, 2021 | Books & Literature, Issue 110, Wellness & Environment, Top Posts
Interview with Author Richard Van Camp
RICHARD VAN CAMP IS AN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED STORYTELLER AND BEST-SELLING AUTHOR. HE HAS WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED 25 BOOKS IN 25 YEARS OF WRITING, FROM BABY BOARD BOOKS TO YOUNG ADULT FICTION, TO NOVELLAS AND NOVELS. BORN IN FORT SMITH, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, HE IS A MEMBER OF THE TŁĮCHǪ DENE NATION. A GRADUATE OF THE EN’OWKIN SCHOOL OF WRITING IN PENTICTON, HE COMPLETED HIS BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS IN WRITING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA AND COMPLETED HIS MASTER’S OF CREATIVE WRITING AT
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Van Camp is passionate about Indigenous reclamation, language and oral history, and was a cultural consultant for CBC Television’s North of 60. He has received several awards for his various works, including Storyteller of the Year for both Canada and the USA by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. This year, Van Camp’s book of short stories Moccasin Square Gardens won in the English Language Category. This collection of stories functions as a meeting place for an assortment of characters, all seeking some form of connection. SAY Magazine had the honour of interviewing Van Camp to find out more about his life’s work and his thoughts on receiving the CODE Burt Award.
SAY: What inspired you to write Moccasin Square Gardens?
Van Camp: Moccasin Square Gardens is my fifth short story collection and the funniest, in my opinion. It was my 25th book in 25 years and my most recent labour of love, Gather, will be my 26th book in 26 years. Moccasin Square Gardens is really a triumph of the craft of writing and my storytelling braided together. I worked with the same editor, Barbara Pulling, who I worked with on the Lesser Blessed, which was my first book, published in 1996. I’m proud of all of my books, but there’s something really special about Moccasin. I wanted to have fun and poke fun at ourselves as Indigenous People, at all lazy leaders, at man babies—the men who never left home—and I wanted to poke fun at us northerners. I also wanted to go toe-to-toe with some big issues. I think people really appreciate that I’ve never shied away from what it means to be a second-generation residential school survivor. This was my first collection as a father where I really went at it with a good heart, exposing a lot of the poison in our communities.
SAY: Why is the Burt Award program important for Indigenous writers, readers and publishers?
Van Camp: You’ve asked the million-dollar question! CODE is committed to global literacy for all people. They’ve given
away hundreds of thousands of copies of books for free. To be acknowledged as an Indigenous writer for the Burt Award means the world to me because we’re judged by an Indigenous panel of readers, most of whom are writers or activists themselves. To be honoured and acknowledged by your own community means so much to me as an Indigenous person who has spent my life reclaiming all I can for my community.
SAY: What advice do you have for young people who are inspired by your work and want to be writers as well?
Van Camp: I always say that if you have a hero, whether it’s Charie Dimaline, Eaton Robinson or Herald Johnson, this is the time to reach out to them. Chances are these mentors will take you under their wings and give you advice. Some
will be happy to read your work and send it back with pointers. They may put you in touch with contests or calls for writing anthologies, and if you have a manuscript they can put you in touch with publishers and agents. As mentors, we love to see
people’s dreams come true, because for us mid-career writers, so many of our own dreams have come true. When you have abundance in your life, you want abundance for everybody. Every Indigenous author I know is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It takes 30 seconds to write an email and say, “Hey I’m a big fan! I’m working on something. Is there any way that I can mail it to you to have a look at it?” I can’t think of too many authors out there who would turn a young person away.
SAY: What do you love most about what you do?
Van Camp: I love collaborating with my friends and heroes. It’s working with incredible artists who are just as hungry and just as inspired as you are to create something epic and to create something that readers will be astonished by. I work with 13 different publishers, and every book we’ve created is beyond anything I ever could have imagined. I’m so grateful. That’s the dance of trust that happens with collaborating, and I really love collaborating with great exquisite artists.
SAY: How does your life and sense of humour play into your work? What do you hope your legacy will be?
Van Camp: When you’re odd looking like me you got to be funny! My writing will live forever. I’m grateful for that. My greatest success in life is of course being a father, a husband and a friend to everybody. I also want to be remembered as somebody who went beyond the call of duty and reclaimed so many stories, so many videos and so many photos, not just for himself but for other families and for future generations. I’m equally proud of all the archival work I’ve been doing. I’ve uploaded interviews I did back in 1991 and 1992 from elders who are no longer with us, but their words are forever. We’re really reclaiming our star and moon knowledge in Fort Smith. I’m really proud of that.
Interview by Danielle Vienneau.
VAN CAMP, Richard. We Sang You Home. illus. by Julie Flett. 26p. Orea. Oct. 2016. Board $9.95. ISBN 9781459811782.
Baby-Toddler--Van Camp captures the love and joy of new parents welcoming a baby into their lives. Told from the first-person perspective of two new parents, the story highlights what they hope to give to their child, from kisses to songs, while also depicting the sense of happiness that their child gives them. The final page concludes with a simple yet candid declaration: "Welcome to the world! We love you!" The writing is minimal but has a lyrical, musical quality, as Van Camp uses poetic, metaphoric language, such as the phrases, "Our forever home is inside of you" and "Through you we are born again." As a result, a good portion of the book may go over the heads of its intended audience and will be better appreciated by parents than young readers, making it more suitable for one-on-one sharing. Flett's illustrations, made using gouache on paper and digital collage, are muted and understated, matching the tranquil tone of the text. While some of the prose might be a little too abstract for young children to fully understand, the emotions of parenthood--including feelings of love, elation, and gratitude--are certain to be conveyed to them by the parents who share this tale with them. VERDICT A lovely picture book that will resonate with parents and show young readers the profound, positive impact they have on their parents' lives.--Laura J. Giunta, Garden City Public Library, NY
Giunta, Laura J.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Giunta, Laura J. "Van Camp, Richard. We Sang You Home." School Library Journal, vol. 62, no. 11, Nov. 2016, pp. 63+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A468699126/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=906382f2. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
VAN CAMP, Richard
We Sang You Home
Illustrated by Julie Flett. Orca Book
Publishers, 2016. 26p. Illus. Gr. Preschool--K.
978-1-459811782. Bdbk. $9.95
We Sang You Home is a gentle board book about welcoming a new baby into a family. A great strength of this book is that it is nonspecific and inclusive enough to encompass all new babies--arriving through birth, fostering, or adoption--and it does not specify gender. The lyrical text is reminiscent of a poem/song and gently begins "we sang you from a wish, we sang you from a prayer", letting the little one know how much they were anticipated and wanted. The whole message is one of love, welcome, and completion now that the young one has joined the family. The eye-catching illustrations hint at a non-specific non-white race for the family (could be Asian, First Nations, Inuit, etc.), making this book inclusive and encompassing of Canada's ethnic diversity.
Both the author and illustrator have Canadian First Nations backgrounds. Richard Van Camp is a member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation from Fort Smith, NWT, Canada and illustrator Julie Flett is Cree-Metis. The story is not specifically First Nations oriented and alludes generally to traditions present in many/most cultures such as songs, prayers, rebirth, and hope for the future. It is a book of thankfulness and hope that would make a wonderful addition to the preschool collection in a library.
Highly recommended.
Thematic Links: Poetry; First Nations; Babies; Song; Birth
[E] Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Resource Links
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Hansen, Erin. "Van Camp, Richard: We Sang You Home." Resource Links, vol. 22, no. 1, Oct. 2016, pp. 55+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A469756224/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8dedabcf. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
VAN CAMP, Richard
Welcome Song for Baby: A Lullaby for Newborns
Orca Book Publishers, 2007. 13p. Illus. Gr. Newborn--Adult. 978-1-55143-661-6. Bd. Bk. $9.95
This is a delightful beginning board book not just for children but for adults, too. Van Camp is a masterful storyteller and award-winning author. He has written other stories such as A Man Called Raven and What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses? His writing experience shines through in this book.
Although it is a very simple book, Van Camp has developed a powerful first nations lullaby that encourages one to sing rather than read the words. "Hey ya hey, hey ya hey, hey ya hey" begins and ends the lullaby. He tells of the world made beautiful again by the birth of a sacred, precious baby. Simple but powerful words such as "And for someone so small, You are about to change our lives, For someone so small, You are about to change our world, For someone so small, You are about to change our universe, Forever" will captivate young and experienced readers alike.
The photographs of 11 different full-page Caucasian and non-Caucasian babies are absolutely stunning. The durability of the book and its convenient size will make it a great lap book for many years. If you have a need to purchase a book as a gift for parents of a newborn, this is the one to get. It will be a treasure long after the baby has grown.
Thematic Links: Love; Life; Babies
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2007 Resource Links
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Rospad, Elaine. "Welcome Song for Baby: A Lullaby for Newborns." Resource Links, vol. 13, no. 2, Dec. 2007, p. 14. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A174102793/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e2f11890. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
VAN CAMP, Richard
Kiss by Kiss/Ocetowina
Orca Book Publishers, 2018. 32p. Illus. Gr. Preschool. 978-1459816220. Bdbk. $9.95
The latest board book by Richard Van Camp (author of Little You, We Sang You Home, Welcome Song for Baby) is a dual language story (Plains Cree and English) about families showing affection to their babies through kisses.
The rhyming stanzas begin with a familiar refrain, "One kiss, two kiss, three kiss, four. Five kiss, six kiss, seven kiss, more." There is a big smooch after ten and then additional rhyming sentences about kisses being sweet and fun, ending with a request for additional ones.
The numbers appear as words and digits in the book. In the back, there is a Cree pronunciation guide for the numbers one to ten and the word kiss. The full page spread photographs show babies receiving and giving kisses. Moms, dads, siblings and grandparents are the recipients. Most of the photographs focus on the faces of the individuals. Moments of happiness and love, or sometimes silliness are captured during the kisses.
Thematic Links: Plains Cree; Dual-Language (Plains Cree and English); Counting; Numbers; Kisses; Families; Affection
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Resource Links
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Boudreau, Tanya. "VAN CAMP, Richard: Kiss by Kiss/Ocetowina." Resource Links, vol. 24, no. 1, Oct. 2018, p. 9. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A561344196/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=baecac39. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Van Camp, Richard KISS BY KISS / OCETOWINA Orca (Children's Fiction) $9.95 9, 18 ISBN: 978-1-4598-1621-3
A dual-language counting book in Plains Cree "Y" dialect and English for the board-book crowd.
Starting at kiss No. 1 and counting to 10, smooches between children and their caregivers, or from one child to another, stir tenderness within and bring smiles to readers' faces. Pictures that fill and spill off the edge of the versos invite readers and listeners into intimate family moments. Astute readers will notice a diverse set of families and individuals depicted in the photographs, including couples that are perhaps adoptive, biracial, or gay parents, and more than a few of the images appear to be of First Nations or Indigenous American children and their caretakers. Those hoping to see the Plains Cree language featured above the English will have to wait for any potential sequels. However, the Plains Cree "Y" dialect is printed in a sans-serif font, clearly distinguishing it from the English though nearly similar in pitch, and key words in English are printed in a similarly colored manner to its Plains Cree translation. Whether readers have brown skin or light skin, are mothers, fathers, or elders, this book--with its kisses and its concept of counting--is "as welcome as the light from the sun," as Van Camp's (Tlicho Dene) text aptly puts it.
A wonderful expression of love and welcome song of hope manifested in a book about counting kisses. (Plains Cree glossary) (Board book. 6 mos.-2)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Van Camp, Richard: KISS BY KISS / OCETOWINA." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A567651613/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e88a8209. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
Van Camp, Richard MOCCASIN SQUARE GARDENS Douglas & McIntyre (Adult Fiction) $19.95 9, 28 ISBN: 978-1-77162-216-5
An eclectic mix of stories, sometimes irreverent and occasionally scarifying, about First Nations peoples in northern Canada.
"Super Indians," one of the strongest stories in this collection from the veteran Van Camp (Kiss by Kiss, 2018, etc.), has the wisecracking attitude of early Sherman Alexie, as its young narrator bemoans how the tribal leader, Chief Danny, siphons funds and keeps the community stuck in a rut. ("I would spend my life uncolonizing Chief Danny…save the North from him and every other loser leader out there.") Similarly, in "Man Babies," a man attempts to deliver some tough love to his new girlfriend's layabout son, who's proving that "our warriors will remain couch potatoes. That our languages and customs will die." Van Camp can tweak this approach to make it more compassionate, as in "The Promise," in which two boys practice pro-wrestling moves on each other to help cope with their fathers' absences. Or he can reshape it into bleak horror, as in a pair of stories in which global warming unleashes an army of demons called the Wheetago; our neglect of the environment dooms us to having our "heads like chalices served up as offerings, full of brains mixed with blackberries." Those two stories aside, Van Camp is mainly concerned with everyday lives in the region where he grew up in the Northwest Territories, and he can give everyday experience a Thurber-esque charm, as in "Ehtsee/Grandpa," in which the narrator attempts to connect with his grandparents in absurd or ill-advised ways (watching E.T. with grandpa, getting both of them stoned). The lack of an overall consistent tone can make the collection feel centerless, but Van Camp seems capable of bringing glints of humor to nearly every predicament, be it world-ending or just day-wrecking.
Straight talk and dark fantasy from an underappreciated corner of North America.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Van Camp, Richard: MOCCASIN SQUARE GARDENS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A593064713/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=fecf0501. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.
VAN CAMP, Richard
May We Have Enough to Share
Illustrated with Photographs from Tea and Bannock Blog Photographers.
Orca Book Publishers, 2019. 24p. Illus. Gr.
Preschool. 978-1-4598-1624-4. Bdbk. $10.95
The author has written an uncomplicated book about gratitude. The brief text relays several constructive wishes for us all in terms very young children will understand. Each page of text is illustrated with a loving photograph of a parent with his or her baby or children on their own. One example is "May we have snuggles, cuddles, sniffs and kisses!" Each wish or prayer is positive, caring, involving generosity to others.
Children will find both the text and photographs comforting and warm. The photographs are excellent! The author and photographers are indigenous and their message is inclusive and always positive, encompassing a gratitude for life, family and the beauty of nature.
Thematic Links: Maternal Relationship; Paternal Relationship; Families; Parents; Gratitude; Indigenous Families
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Resource Links
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Lang, Isobel. "VAN CAMP, Richard: May We Have Enough to Share." Resource Links, vol. 25, no. 1, Oct. 2019, pp. 21+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A609853460/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3a5f4543. Accessed 14 Dec. 2021.