Literature
Issue: 2019-12-04, PHOTO: Pixabay
The writing’s on the wall …
They’re ookey and they’re spooky … and perhaps one of the ookiest and spookiest of the household was Thing T. Thing, the disembodied hand affectionately known as “Thing” on The Addams Family. Read more
Issue: 2019-11-27, PHOTO: courtesy of Tedd Tucker
Now you know your ABCs
Tedd Tucker’s apartment looks like a bookstore these days. That’s how it goes when you take on every aspect of publishing your first book yourself – from the illustration and the layout, to the printing and the selling. Read more
Missives from One Bucket Creek
There are essays on Canadian culture, and a section on national scandals and cover-ups—enough to make you forget all about SNC Lavalin. Read more
Literacy is one of the best gifts you can give
Whatever your language or culture, your gift to the future is to provide wonder for kids to chew on in their strollers. Read more
Issue: 2019-09-18, PHOTO: Christoph Strässler on Foter.com / CC BY-SAk
Bear words
As I continue my conversations with Joe Copper Jack, I begin to understand that it is not just about the content, or events of the story, but what the story teaches. Traditional stories are the way to learn from the past. When we hear them... Read more
Issue: 2019-08-21, PHOTO: Patricia McKenna
A contemporary Yukon storyteller
His latest book includes the signature of a ghost. He has competed in the only two Dyea to Dawson races, in both 1997 and 1998. He has written six books, including the recently-released Caribou Hotel. Read more
Issue: 2019-08-21, PHOTO: courtesy of Sally Lee Baker
Faro writer nabs excellence award
Wise and wordy Sally Lee Baker weaves wicked words in Toni Tanager, the latest instalment in her series of alliterative children’s books. In doing so, she has also found herself the recipient of a 2019 Book Excellence Award. Read more
Issue: 2019-06-05, PHOTO: Dan Davidson
How real life can inform fiction
In the course of his Massey Lecture series in 2013 (published as Blood: The Stuff of Life, from House of Anansi Press), Lawrence Hill used a fair amount of autobiographical information for anecdotal evidence to enliven his research material... Read more
Issue: 2019-05-15, PHOTO: Glenn Rudman
Joanna Lilley feels most herself when she’s writing
Joanna Lilley has always loved reading. She's one of those people that you’ll find in the theatre reading a book before the movie begins. It fits that she would also enjoy writing... Read more
Issue: 2019-05-15, PHOTO: Edwardx / Wikimedia Commons
The Ravenmaster: My life with the ravens at the Tower of London
“Christopher Skaife is both a raven master and a master storyteller. Compulsively readable, I devoured the book in a single sitting!”—Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering So did I! From 4 p.m. to midnight on the very day I found the last... Read more
Issue: 2019-05-01, Photo: courtesy of Heather O’Neill
Consumed by craft
Heather O’Neill is pleased to be returning to the Yukon this year for another engagement during the Yukon Writers’ Festival and Young Author’s Conference. She was last here In 2016. “I love the sunlight in the Yukon,” she said. “Everything seems... Read more
Issue: 2019-04-24, PHOTO: courtesy of David Geary
David Geary says to “be hungry for other people’s stories”
David Geary is no stranger to the Yukon. He was here to work with Gwaandak Theatre a year ago last February. Now he’s looking forward to seeing what Whitehorse is like when it’s warmer... Read more
Issue: 2019-04-24, PHOTO: courtesy of Sigmund Brouwer/Rebecca Wellman
Sigmund Brouwer says put your character in a problem situation
With over 100 titles and four million books in print, Sigmund Brouwer is a bestselling author of books for children, young adults and adults. He will be one of the mentor authors at this year’s Young Authors’ Conference on May 2 and 3, which is... Read more
Issue: 2019-04-17, Photo: Dan Davidson
What is the Yukon Writers’ Festival?
In 1990, a number of organizations joined together to merge the Young Authors’ Conference (YAC) and the National Book Festival into the more far-reaching Yukon Writers’ Festival. The goal was to highlight Canadian literary arts in the Yukon... Read more
Issue: 2019-04-17, Photo: courtesy of Jan Redford
Fear should never be a deterrent
Jan Redford describes herself as a compulsive journal writer who always knew that she would like to be an author. “I remember filling pages with squiggly lines when I was about four or five, pretending I was a writer... Read more
Issue: 2019-04-10, PHOTO: Cathie Archbould
Ongoing fascination for haiku
“What fascinates me about writing haiku is that I have found it to be the perfect vehicle for the kind of art that I want to make,” said Yukon-based poet, Kathy Munro. “I am a poet. I believe that I have something to say and haiku allows me to say... Read more
Issue: 2019-04-03, Graphics: Yukon Fallen/Michael Gates
A Commemoration of the Yukon’s WWI Fallen Soldiers
This slender volume contains brief biographies and photographs of the men from the Yukon who fought and died for Canada between 1914 and 1918. Seven of the enlisted died in 1919, but are recorded as still being in active service... Read more
Issue: 2019-02-27, PHOTO: Amy Kenny
All work and a play
On a Thursday afternoon at Takhini Elementary School, a class played dodgeball in the gym, seemingly unaware that, on the other side of the heavy blue curtain pulled across the school’s stage, was Paris... Read more
Issue: 2019-02-27, PHOTO: Chris English via Wikimedia Commons
There is more to Raven mythology than clamshells and Odin
One of my many favourite Bill Reid carvings, Raven and the First Men, is part of a Haida creation myth which is permanently displayed in the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia... Read more
Issue: 2019-02-27, PHOTO: Danny Macdonald
Come on baby, let’s go downtown
Peter Jickling has a casualness about him. He sits, relaxed, sipping a beer as he relates the inspiration for his new book of poetry, Downtown Flirt. The book itself reflects a period in his life where he explored moving to Toronto to see what was... Read more