Wikipedia

Richard Wagamese

Richard Wagamese(October 14, 1955 – March 10, 2017) was anOjibweCanadian author and journalist from theWabaseemoong Independent NationsinNorthwestern Ontario.[3]He was best known for his novelIndian Horse(2012), which won theBurt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literaturein 2013, and was a competing title in the 2013 edition ofCanada Reads.[4]

Richard Wagamese
Richard Wagamese at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival in 2013
Wagamese at theEden Mills Writers' Festivalin 2013
Native name
Mushkotay Beezheekee Anakwat (Buffalo Cloud)
Born(1955-10-14)October 14, 1955
Minaki,Ontario,Canada
DiedMarch 10, 2017(2017-03-10)(aged 61)[1]
Kamloops,British Columbia,Canada
Occupationnovelist, poet, television writer
LanguageOjibway; English
GenreFirst Nationsliterature[2]
Notable worksIndian Horse
Notable awardsBurt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature(2013)

It was adapted into a feature-length film,Indian Horse(2017), directed byStephen Campanelliand released after Wagamese's death.[5]

Life

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In the essay "The Path to Healing", Wagamese described his first home as a tent hung from a spruce bough.[2]His family fished, hunted, and trapped. At the age of two, he and his three siblings were abandoned by adults on a binge drinking trip in Kenora. The children left their bush camp when they ran out of food and firewood, and sheltered at a railway depot, where they were found by a policeman.[6]

Wagamese later described his family by saying "each of the adults had suffered in an institution that tried to scrape the Indian out of their insides, and they came back to the bush raw, sore and aching."[2]His parents, Marjorie Wagamese and Stanley Raven, had been among the many native children who, under Canadian law, were removed from their families and forced to attend government-runresidential schools,the primary purpose of which was to assimilate them to European-Canadian culture.[7]

After being taken from his family by theChildren's Aid Society,Wagamese was raised infoster homesin northwestern Ontario before being adopted, at age nine, by aPresbyterianfamily inSt. Catharines.They refused to allow him to maintain contact with hisFirst Nationsheritage and identity.[8][2]The beatings and abuse he endured in foster care and his adoptive home led him to leave at 16,[6]seeking to reconnect with Indigenous culture.[9]For a time he lived on the street, abusing drugs and alcohol, and was imprisoned several times.[10][11]During this time he also began frequenting public libraries, at first for shelter and later to read.[11]

Wagamese did not reunite with his family until age 23. After he recounted his experiences to them, an elder gave him the nameMushkotay Beezheekee Anakwat– Buffalo Cloud – and told him that his role was to tell stories.[2]

In his later life, Wagamese lived nearKamloops,British Columbia.[1]In 2010 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the city'sThompson Rivers University.[12]

He was married and divorced three times, and had two sons named Jason and Joshua, one of whom was estranged.[2]On March 10, 2017, two days afterEmbers: One Ojibway's Meditationswas nominated for a BC Book Award, Wagamese died at his home of natural causes. He was engaged at the time of his death.[11]The film adaptation of his best-known novel,Indian Horse,was released later that year.

Career

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I did not speak my first Ojibwa word or set foot on my traditional territory until I was twenty-six. I did not know that I had a family, a history, a culture, a source for spirituality, a cosmology, or a traditional way of living. I had no awareness that I belonged somewhere.

Richard Wagamese,[6]

In 1979 Wagamese began his first job as a writer, working atNew Breed,aFirst Nationspublication.[11]With the encouragement ofLorna Crozieramong others, he later worked as a journalist for theCalgary Herald.[12]Wagamese spent much of his time as a journalist interviewing residential school survivors.[13]He won aNational Newspaper Awardfor writing in 1991.[14]His journalism also won the Native American Press Association Award twice and the National Aboriginal Communications Society award. His newspaper columns can be found in his anthologyThe Terrible Summer.[10]Wagamese stopped working full-time in journalism in 1993 but continued to write as a freelance journalist for publications such asThe Globe and Mail.[11]

His debut novelKeeper 'n Mewas published in 1994.[15]The book was co-winner withRoberta Rees'sBeneath the Faceless Mountainof the Georges Bugnet Award for Novel at the 1995Writers' Guild of Alberta'sAlberta Literary Awardsgala.[16]

He published five other novels, a book of poetry, two children's books, and five non-fiction books, including two memoirs.[1]He also wrote for the television seriesNorth of 60.[6]Throughout his writing life, Wagamese was renowned for his riveting live readings, consisting of passages from his works, traditional stories, anecdotes, and even stand-up comedy.[11]Wagamese is known as one of Canada's most prolific Indigenous authors.[17]

In 2012 he was given anIndspire Awardas a representative of media and communications.[18]In 2012 he served as the Harvey Stevenson Southam Guest Lecturer in journalism at theUniversity of Victoria.In 2013, he won the Canada Council for the ArtsMolson Prizeand the inauguralBurt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literaturefor his novelIndian Horse.[10]Other awards included the Kouhi Award for outstanding contributions to the literature of Northwestern Ontario and the 2015Writers' Trust of Canada'sMatt Cohen Awardfor his body of work.[19]

In the same year, Canada'sSuper Channelannounced that it was funding a film adaptation ofIndian Horse,to be directed byStephen Campanelliand written byDennis Foon.[20]Clint Eastwoodis one of the executive producers who contributed to the making of the film. Following Super Channel's filing for creditor protection, the filmIndian Horsepremiered theatrically at the2017 Toronto International Film Festival.[5]

His final novel,Starlight,was published posthumously in 2018.[21]A collection of stories and non-fiction writings,One Drum,was published posthumously in 2019.[22]

In 2022, Sea to Sky Entertainment and Grinding Halt Films announced that Foon, Campanelli andJules Arita Koostachinwere working on a film adaptation of Wagamese's 2009 novelRagged Company.[23]

Published works

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Book Awards & Honours
Keeper'n Me.Anchor Canada. 1994.ISBN978-0-385-66283-3.
The Terrible Summer.Warwick Publishing. 1996ISBN978-1895629637
A Quality of Light.Doubleday Canada. 1997.ISBN978-0-385-25606-3.
For Joshua: An Ojibway Father Teaches His Son.Anchor Canada. 2003.ISBN978-0-385-65953-6.
Dream Wheels.Anchor Canada. 2007.ISBN978-0-385-66200-0. 2007 Canadian Authors Association MOSAID Technologies Inc. Award for Fiction[24]
One Native Life.Douglas & McIntyre. 2008.ISBN978-1-55365-364-6. Included inThe Globe and Mail's 2008 Top 100 Books of the Year
Ragged Company.Anchor Canada. 2009.ISBN978-0-307-37263-5.
One Story, One Song.Douglas & McIntyre. 2011.ISBN978-1-55365-506-0. 2011 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature[3]
The Next Sure Thing.Raven Books. 2011.ISBN9781554699001.
Runaway Dreams.Ronsdale Press. 2011.ISBN9781553801290.
Indian Horse.Douglas & McIntyre. 2012.ISBN978-1-55365-402-5. 2013Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature;[25]Shortlisted for theInternational Dublin Literary Award[10]
Him Standing.Orca Book Publishers LTD. 2013.ISBN9781459801769.
Medicine Walk.McClelland & Stewart. 2014.ISBN978-0-7710-8918-3. 2015 Banff Mountain Book Festival Grand Award[26]
Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations.Douglas & McIntyre. 2016.ISBN978-1-77162-133-5. 2017Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award;[27]finalist for the BC Book Award[28]
Starlight.McClelland & Stewart.2018.ISBN978-0771070846.
One Drum.Douglas & McIntyre.2019.ISBN978-1771622295.

References

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  1. ^abc"Ojibway Author Richard Wagamese Dead at 61".CBC News.Archived fromthe originalon March 28, 2017.RetrievedMarch 28,2017.
  2. ^abcdefLederman, Marsha (March 25, 2017)."Ojibway Author Found Salvation in Stories".The Globe and Mail.p. S12. Archived fromthe originalon March 28, 2017.RetrievedMarch 28,2017.
  3. ^abVolmers, Eric (February 28, 2012)."Indian Horse is a dark ride".Calgary Herald.p. F1.
  4. ^"Newfoundland novel wins Canada Reads".Toronto Star.The Canadian Press. February 15, 2013. p. E7.
  5. ^abTakeuchi, Craig (August 23, 2017)"Film adaptation of Richard Wagamese's novel Indian Horse to screen at VIFF 2017".The Georgia Straight
  6. ^abcdWalker, Susan."Stories That Heal".reviewcanada.ca.Literary Review of Canada. Archived fromthe originalon March 29, 2017.RetrievedMarch 29,2017.
  7. ^Slotnik, Daniel E. (March 20, 2017). "Richard Wagamese, Whose Writing Explored His Ojibwe Heritage, Dies at 61".New York Times.nytimes.com. Retrieved April 3, 2017. Print version March 27, 2017.
  8. ^"Aboriginal author details his peace in series of essays".Winnipeg Free Press,February 19, 2011.
  9. ^"Just like Canada, a strong marriage is built on equality".Calgary Herald,September 29, 2012.
  10. ^abcd"Ojibway author Richard Wagamese dead at 61".CBC News.March 11, 2017.RetrievedNovember 1,2019.
  11. ^abcdef"Ojibway author Richard Wagamese found salvation in stories".Retrieved2019-11-01.
  12. ^ab"Wagamese, Richard: Biography".WordFest.RetrievedAugust 16,2012.
  13. ^Walker, Susan."Stories That Heal".Literary Review of Canada.Archived fromthe originalon 2017-03-29.RetrievedOctober 14,2022.
  14. ^"Writer wins national honor".Calgary Herald,April 14, 1991.
  15. ^"Travels with Raven `a rare pleasure'".Calgary Herald,February 26, 1994.
  16. ^"Rees, Wagamese share novel win at Writers Guild of Alberta gala".Edmonton Journal,May 14, 1995.
  17. ^Wagamese, Richard (2013).Embers.Madeira Park, BC, Canada: Douglas and McIntyre Ltd.ISBN978-1-77162-133-5.
  18. ^"Indspire awards honour a community's leaders; Meet some of the leading lights of Canada's vibrant Indigenous culture".The Province,February 27, 2012.
  19. ^"Andre Alexis wins Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize".Telegraph-Journal,November 5, 2015.
  20. ^"Super Channel Announces Projects Funded for Development".Broadcaster,September 14, 2015.
  21. ^"Richard Wagamese's final novel 'a captivating and ultimately uplifting read'".Toronto Star,August 10, 2018.
  22. ^"Richard Wagamese's final book, One Drum, to be published in Oct. 2019".CBC Books,May 31, 2019.
  23. ^"Richard Wagamese’s novel ‘Ragged Company’ secures film adaptation".Toronto Star,December 1, 2022.
  24. ^"Wagamese wins Authors award for Dream Wheels".The Globe and Mail,May 7, 2007.
  25. ^"Richard Wagamese".The Canadian Encyclopedia.RetrievedSeptember 8,2019.
  26. ^"2015 Banff Mountain Book Competition Awards".banffcentre.ca.Banff Centre. Archived fromthe originalon March 29, 2017.RetrievedMarch 29,2017.
  27. ^"Embers: One Ojibways's Meditations".douglas-mcintyre.com.Douglas & McIntyre (2013) Ltd.
  28. ^BBC Book Awards website
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