Honoring Authors: Larry Loyie |
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Honoring
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Back to the Honoring Authors main page Larry LoyieBorn in Slave Lake in northwestern Alberta, Larry Loyie lived a traditional Cree First Nations life until he was nine, when he was placed in St. Bernard's Mission (residential) school Grouard, Alberta. His time there inspired the play Ora Pro Nobis (Pray for Us). At 14, he left the school and went to work on farms and in logging camps, and at 19, he joined the Canadian Forces, where he lived in Europe before returning to work in northern British Columbia and Alberta. For more than 25 years, he did jobs including fishing, logging and native counseling.In the mid-1980s, he went back to school to learn grammar and typing, took a free creative writing class in Vancouver’s downtown eastside, and got involved with the literacy movement. In 1991, Larry crossed British Columbia interviewing native teachers for two radio documentaries. Larry Loyie’s vision is libraries full of books written by First Nations people. With his partner, writer Constance Brissenden, he encourages indigenous people to write their stories in a true fashion (not just to make it sound good, or to sell) through talks, readings and creative writing workshops. Larry Loyie’s writings include the children’s books When the Spirits Dance (Theytus Books), As Long As the Rivers Flow (Groundwood Books) and The Gathering Tree (Theytus Books). He has written short stories and several plays, including Ora Pro Nobis (Pray for Us) and The Healing. His writing explores Native cultures and traditions, the history of residential schools, effects of war, childhood emotions, and HIV awareness and prevention. Both As Long as the Rivers Flow and The Gathering Tree are illustrated by award-winning artist Heather D. Holmlund of Pickering, Ontario (www.hdholmlundarts.com). In the fall of 2008, Goodbye Buffalo Bay by Larry Loyie (ages 12 and up) will be published by Theytus Books, Canada’s leading aboriginal publisher. This new chapter book shares Larry Loyie’s dramatic and often humorous adventures during his last year in residential school, followed by his early years as a child worker in Canada’s north. Bibliography When the Spirits Dance (Theytus Books, 2006) As Long as the Rivers Flow (Groundwood Books, 2002) The Gathering Tree (Theytus Books, 2005) Goodbye Buffalo Bay (Theytus Books, November 2008) In 2001, Larry Loyie received the Canada Post Literacy Award for Individual Achievement. In 2003, his book As Long as the Rivers Flow (Groundwood Books) won the prestigious Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-fiction. It was the 2006 Honour Book selection of the First Nation Communities Read program, chosen as the outstanding First Nations book of the year. When the Spirits Dance (Theytus Books) continues the exploration of Larry Loyie’s traditional Cree childhood and was shortlisted by the 2007 Anskohk Aboriginal Children's Book of the Year Award. The Gathering Tree (Theytus Books) was one of only 11 literary works chosen for presentation at the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto, with more than 30,000 delegates. Currently, Larry, and his partner and co-presenter, editor/writer Constance Brissenden, live near High Prairie, Alberta, Canada, in a log cabin. For the past 15 years, the couple has traveled across North America, exploring First Nations traditions. “My goal is to build on the knowledge of traditional First Nations and American Indian lifestyles through my writing,” says Larry Loyie. For more information, visit: http://www.firstnationswriter.com/ Some of Loyie's Works:
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