An Indigenous author hailing from Northwest Territories visits prairies to share his work
This April, while University of Regina (U of R) students were busy finishing the winter semester, a Canadian author visited the MacKenzie Art Gallery to share his work with the Regina community.
31 books: Richard Van Camp
Richard Van Camp is a Canadian Indigenous writer from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He is the author of 31 books and has written everything from graphic novels to baby books.
This spring, he brought two of his stories to Regina via film: Inkwo for When the Starving Return and Three Feathers. Inkwo is a story based on the Indigenous tales of the Wendigo and its interactions with Dove, a gender-fluid character. The short film, shown at the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), cost $1.2 million to make because of its use of stop motion animation.
Three Feathers is a story about the Indigenous ways of rehabilitation for three men who harmed an elder in their community. It was filmed in Van Camp’s home community of Fort Smith with locals as the actors. The movie took months to film because Van Camp and his crew wanted it to be available in many languages.
The beauty of the Northwest Territories [is], our teachings, our traditions, [and] our humor. I remember when I was 19, walking out of our log house, and I just remember saying out loud, ‘I want to write something that I would like to read’. And that’s how I wrote The Lesser Blessed. My first novel took me five years. The Lesser Blessed turns 30 this year. – Richard Van Camp
Writing lessons with Van Camp
Van Camp ran some writing workshops in Regina for the youth, before presenting his two films. “Well, I think we live in an epidemic of loneliness, and I think that what we’re all missing is just good visiting and so, yesterday, at our ‘What if’ Creative Writing Workshop, what ended up happening was just everyone started sharing stories,” said Van Camp.
Van Camp said he has always been a reader, but as he got older, he noticed that no one was sharing stories of the people in small northern towns – especially those who are Indigenous.
He notes, “The beauty of the Northwest Territories [is], our teachings, our traditions, [and] our humor. I remember when I was 19, walking out of our log house, and I just remember saying out loud, ‘I want to write something that I would like to read’. And that’s how I wrote The Lesser Blessed. My first novel took me five years. The Lesser Blessed turns 30 this year.”
Years later, The Lesser Blessed was turned into a film. Van Camp said, “I got an email from Anita Doran, a director, and she said, ‘I’ve just stayed up all night reading your novel. Can I turn it into a movie?’ And that took seven years to raise the money, and we shot The Lesser Blessed in Ontario.”
Four of Van Camp’s works have now been adapted into film. He loves giving people the opportunity to shine through his works. Many individuals involved with his film projects are not trained actors, but members of his community.
Van Camp not only tells the stories about his northern community, but also gives community members the opportunity to bring those to life on screen.
