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Richard Van Camp

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Richard Van Camp
Born (1971-10-08) October 8, 1971 (age 53)
NationalityDogrib (Tlicho) Nation
Occupation(s)Writer, storyteller, professor
Websitehttp://www.richardvancamp.com/

Richard Van Camp (born 8 September 1971)[1] is a Tłı̨chǫ writer from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories.[2] He is best known for his 1996 novel The Lesser Blessed, which was adapted into a film by director Anita Doron in 2012.[2]

Van Camp attended the En’owkin International School of Writing, the University of Victoria’s Creative Writing BFA Program, and the Master’s Degree in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. He teaches creative writing with an aboriginal focus at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and teaches creative writing and storytelling at the Emily Carr Institute. Van Camp works with Musqueam First Nations youth with the Musqueaum Youth Project.[3]

Writing

Van Camp began his career as an intern on the writing staff of the television series North of 60, produced by the CBC. He was also a CBC script and cultural consultant for four seasons.[4]

He has published several short story collections. Most of his work is set in the community of Fort Simmer, a fictionalization of his hometown.[2] He has also published children's books, poetry and educational graphic novels.[5] He worked with the Healthy Aboriginal Network to create and edit graphic novels.[6]

Van Camp's writing has been influenced by the tradition of oral storytelling. He has stated:

"I need oral storytelling in my life as a listener because I’m always filtering the pauses, the slang, the rockabilly of pacing, the delivery. When I listen to a master storyteller or someone just sharing a story, I’m studying how they’re talking and how they’re standing, and what the pitch is in their voice. I can sometimes take their techniques and put them into a story."[7]

In June 2014, Van Camp was announced as a juror for the prestigious NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature. His finalist nominee was Little You artist Julie Flett.

Van Camp was the 2017 Edmonton Metro Libraries writer in residence.[4]

One of Van Camp's short stories, "Dogrib Midnight Runners", was re-imagined as a film directed by Zoe Leigh Hopkins called Mohawk Midnight Runners. The film was released in 2013 through Big Soul Productions. The story appears in Van Camp's short story collection The Moon Letting Go (2013).

In 2018, his novella When We Play Our Drums, They Sing was published alongside Monique Gray Smith's Lucy & Lola in the compilation The Journey Forward.[8] The book was named as a shortisted finalist for the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature.

Works

Novels

Novella

  • When We Play Our Drums, They Sing! (2018)

Short Story Collections

  • Angel Wing Splash Pattern (Kegedonce Press, 2002)
  • Godless but Loyal to Heaven (Enfield & Wizenty, 2013)
  • The Moon of Letting Go (Enfield & Wizenty, 2010)
  • Night Moves (Enfield & Wizenty, 2015)

Short Stories

  • "Show Me Yours" (2007)
  • "A Darling Story" (2008)

Children's Literature

Graphic Novels

  • Path of the Warrior (Healthy Aboriginal Network, 2010)
  • Kiss Me Deadly (Healthy Aboriginal Network, 2011)
  • Three Feathers (Portage & Main Press, 2015)
  • A Blanket of Butterflies (Portage & Main Press, 2015)
  • The Blue Raven (Pearson Canada, 2015)
  • Spirit (South Slave Divisional Education Council, 2015)

Awards

Most recently, Van Camp was awarded the R. Ross Arnett Award for Children's Literature for his children's book Little You.[9] He was also the winner of the 2013 Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction for his short story collection Godless but Loyal to Heaven.[10] Van Camp was a shortlisted nominee for the ReLit Award for Short Fiction in 2010 for The Moon of Letting Go.

References

  1. ^ Canadian Who's Who Search. Grey House Publishing Canada.
  2. ^ a b c "About a boy: Richard Van Camp and The Lesser Blessed". Quill & Quire, November 2012.
  3. ^ "A Quarterly of Criticism and Review". Canadian Literature. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  4. ^ a b "Edmonton Metro Libraries welcome 2017 writer in residence Richard Van Camp". Alberta Native News. 2016-12-08. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  5. ^ "Comic tackles sexual health". Yellowknifer, April 29, 2011.
  6. ^ Wilson, Jordan (December 2008). "An interview with Richard Van Camp". Canadian Literature A Quarterly of Criticism and Review. Canadian Literature. Retrieved December 2014. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ "An Interview with Richard Van Camp". briarpatchmagazine.com. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
  8. ^ "Cherie Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves among finalists for $10K CODE Burt Award for Indigenous YA literature". CBC Books, September 20, 2018.
  9. ^ "R. Ross Annett Award for Children's Literature". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  10. ^ "Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
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