The Sleeping Giant Awakens - M. D. Meyer

I was recently at a conference in Brandon, Manitoba which featured dialogue and readings by twenty-four prominent Aboriginal authors from across Canada. Joseph Boyden, winner of a Giller (and many other awards!) was there. Renowned author, Basil Johnston honored us with a literary reading. Michael Kusugak, author of the children’s book, A Promise is a Promise spoke of how his books were based on stories his grandmother told him while their family was wintering on the ice flows in Hudson’s Bay. Many (young) people will remember reading in high school the book, In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier. Beatrice was one of the many authors who shared their writing journey with the audience gathered at the 2nd bi-annual Ogamas Aboriginal Literary Festival.

When I was a young kid in school (many moons ago!), there was no Aboriginal literature available at all. The Native kids that I knew were well-known for their beautiful artwork but were always poor in English and writing skills. No surprise, really, since English was a second language to them. In those years, I suppose what was assumed by most was that the Aboriginal people had no great stories to tell and no great story-tellers to tell them. How far from the truth that was!

Now, finally, the sleeping giant has awoken. The pioneers of Canadian Aboriginal literature, Basil Johnston (Ojibway Heritage, 1976), Beatrice Mosionier (April Raintree, 1983) and Emma LaRocque (Defeathering the Indian, 1975) faced and overcame many challenges. Today, they are joined by a wealth of writers including humourist, Drew Hayden Taylor; journalist, Colleen Simard; poet, Marilyn Dumont; and young adult author, Jennifer Storm. No longer limited to legends and “protest literature,” Aboriginal writings are winning major literary awards for their excellence in such varied fields as critical text, gothic novels, humour and children’s literature (to name but a few).

And there are many more authors to follow. Here in Norway House, for example, I know that Aboriginal high school students are prepared for, and encouraged to pursue, a career as authors, journalists or playwrights. And I can personally attest to the fact that there are already some very good writers among them.

As Canadian Christian writers, we face some challenges – getting Canadian books into Christian bookstores, getting Christian books into mainstream bookstores and so on. We know and understand these challenges. Canadian Aboriginal writers face similar obstacles. Their books should not be relegated to “Aboriginal collections” in select University libraries. We should be seeing this incredible wealth of literature represented in all of our bookstores, libraries and schools. It is we ourselves who will be missing out if we do not open our eyes to this awakening giant. The Aboriginal writing community is growing and getting stronger every day (April Raintree annually sells over 6,000 copies worldwide). As Canadians and as Christian writers, editors, booksellers and book buyers, we need to get on board and support our fellow Canadian writers in the Aboriginal community. It is our responsibility and it is our privilege.

The Public Enemies of Books - No, Not the Ones You Think - O'Leary

No, no, by public enemies I don’t mean censors or book burners. I mean the increase in the number of communication activities we can choose among, while idle in public.

Take the Toronto subway, for example. It used to be that there wasn’t much to do while crossing town underground except read, knit, or listen to music. One can still do all that. But today one can also talk to friends on the cell, send and receive e-mail and text messages, watch videos on the i-pod, and read the free daily newspapers. The latter are just small enough and short enough to be convenient for a subway trip. Or, while waiting for a train, one can watch the rolling news headlines on what used to be a simple clock.

All these new activities compete for the time available for reading books, magazines, and newspapers offered for sale. The number of types of media has exploded but there are still only twenty-four hours in a day.

One outcome is that today’s writing must not only be good enough to compete with the row of ads around the car. It must be good enough to compete with interactive media as well.

And that requires a lot of thought and clever strategy on the part of writers, publishers, and booksellers.

© Denyse O'Leary

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