Literature
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: 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: 2019-05-15, 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: 2019-05-01, 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: 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: 2019-04-17, 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: 2019-04-10, 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: 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: 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: 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
Issue: 2019-02-13, PHOTO: Dan Davidson
A Trip to the City of the Lost - Returning to Rockton
Somewhere in the Boreal Forest, there is a small community called Rockton.It’s sometimes called the City of the Lost because it’s inhabited by people who, for one reason or another, really wanted to get away from it all... Read more
Issue: 2019-01-16, PHOTO: courtesy of Bob Hayes
ZHOH – The Spirit of the Wolf
“They were down to just four humans and a wolf puppy named Zhoh.” A funny thing happened in the two years between the ending of Book 1 of the Bob Hayes’ Zhoh trilogy, The Clan of the Wolf, and the beginning of Book 2, The Spirit of the Wolf... Read more
Issue: 2018-12-05, PHOTO: Dan Davidson
Murder and romance in small-town Alaska
With over 225 novels to her credit, Nora Roberts is a bestseller by any definition. Wikipedia says the books are all romance novels, so I’m not sure if that number includes the 47 mysteries in the In Death series... Read more
Issue: 2018-11-07, PHOTO: John Henderson
Celebrating the Great White North
When he arrived in Yellowknife, back in 2004, with his wife, Serena, and baby daughter, Janessa, it didn’t occur to John Henderson that he might still be there 14 years later, have a thriving career as chief operating officer at the Det'on Cho... Read more
Issue: 2018-10-17, PHOTO: Danny Macdonald
Let be whatever may befall
To be, or not to be. For advocates of plain writing, Shakespeare’s most famous monologue is a touchstone. Its opening sentence consists of nine one-syllable words in a row, followed by one containing just two (depending on whether one reads... Read more
Issue: 2018-10-17, PHOTO: courtesy of Michael Gates
For those who answered the call …
Lest we forget … This is why Michael Gates (Yukon historian and Yukon News columnist) and D. Blair Neatby (military historian, Yellowknife) have co-authored the memorial book, Yukon Fallen of World War I, a collection of more than 100 biographies... Read more
Issue: 2018-10-10, PHOTO: courtesy of Sebastian Fricke
The Northern Seduction
Having completed our undergraduate degrees, Rose and I were very eager to break free of the bureaucracy and daily grind of city life. We followed our inner compasses north, to Alaska and the Yukon, writing all along the way and compiling it into a... Read more