Award-winning author to hold book signing

An award-winning First Nations children’s author will be in town this Saturday (Dec. 23) for a book signing from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. And while he’s not from Rainy River District originally, he does have a local connection.
Larry Loyie is the author of three plays, some short stories, and three children’s books.
Born in Slave Lake, Alta., Loyie is the brother of local resident Buddy Loyie. But the connection to Fort Frances doesn’t end there.
Before his first children’s book, “As Long As the Rivers Flow,” could be published, he needed to find an illustrator. It was a long and difficult process.
On a visit to Fort Frances, he spotted the work of Heather D. Holmlund at the Fine Line Art Gallery and was immediately struck.
“We had searched for months, literally months, for the right illustrator,” Loyie said.
Holmlund created 20 acrylic paintings for “As Long As the Rivers Flow,” which was published in 2002 by Groundwood Books.
The book won the 2003 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction, and was a 2006 Honour Book selection of the year by the First Nation Communities Read program.
Holmlund also would go on to create the illustrations for Loyie’s second book, “The Gathering Tree,” described as “a gentle family story of HIV awareness.”
That book was published in 2005 by Theytus Books.
But Loyie didn’t begin his writing career as a children’s author. In fact, he began as a playwright.
Living in British Columbia and a victim of the residential school system as a child, Loyie’s goal was to reach First Nations peoples struggling to come to terms with their past.
He felt theatre was a more direct and powerful way to connect with people.
“I thought no one is ever going to read a book from the downtown area of Vancouver,” Loyie said. “What I never realized was how much it costs to produce a play.”
His first play, “Ora Pro Nobis” (which means “pray for us” in Latin), was about his experiences in residential school. It was staged at five federal prisons in B.C., as well as in Toronto and Alberta.
Loyie went on to write two more plays, then decided to switch gears and move into children’s writing.
“I focused on children because they needed it more than anyone,” he said.
He wanted to help children reconnect with their culture, particularly those in cities who may have even less access to learning about their ancestors’ traditions.
“For parents who move to the city for work, they lose access to a good way of life,” he said.
It took three years to publish “As Long As the Rivers Flow,” Loyie said, but only nine months to publish his next book, which deals with HIV.
“It had to be children-friendly,” Loyie said of this challenging project.
He wanted to write a book to raise awareness about HIV, but in such a way that grandparents could read it to their grandchildren without embarrassment.
He also wanted to help prevent the spread of this deadly disease, but from a new perspective.
“I didn’t want children to be told what not to do. I wanted them to ask questions of the person reading the book to them,” Loyie noted.
For that reason, there are a series of 15 questions and answers in the back of the book to help parents if their child asks a question they don’t know the answer to.
“The Centre for Disease Control went over this with a fine-tooth comb,” noted Loyie, to ensure all information in the book was medically and scientifically correct.
Everyone involved in the project apparently did good work: Health Canada recently ordered a large number of the books.
“The scary part of doing this book was the focus groups,” Loyie acknowledged.
Before being released to the public, the book was given to two groups of Grade 7 students in Vancouver to read and get their opinion.
“Out of the about 80 students, only one knew what HIV was about,” Loyie said. And the vast majority of the students thought there was a cure for HIV.
Many of Holmlund’s illustrations in the book are taken from photographs of real people and places, including a First Nation elder who was a mentor to Loyie.
The book highlights the First Nation tradition of gathering around a sick person to offer any help. “But when someone has AIDS, people back away,” Loyie noted.
Despite the sensitive subject matter, Loyie said “The Gathering Tree” is suitable for kids in Grade 3 or 4 and up.
“Even adults. I always say it’s not just for children, it’s for everybody,” he added.
Jean Bruyere agrees. The local resident was at the United Native Friendship Centre on Monday to meet the author and ask him to sign copies of his first two books for her.
The books are a Christmas present for her nine-year-old grandson, Shaye.
“I was looking for books by native authors,” Bruyere explained. “That’s what he asked for for Christmas.”
She found “As Long As the Rivers Flow” at Betty’s, bought it, and brought it home to read. She immediately was touched by the story of a grandparent retelling their experiences in residential school to their grandchild.
“That’s exactly what happened to me,” she said. “I got up and got the other book because that one was so interesting.”
Loyie’s own story is a fascinating one. He lived a traditional Cree First Nation way of life in northwestern Alberta until age 10, when he was taken from his family and placed in residential school.
That year, he spent some time in the hospital, where he was reading a magazine and found a piece by Ernest Hemmingway. From that moment on, he wanted to write.
At age 14, he left the school and worked on farms and in logging camps.
“There’s a lot of books in the logging camps. I read everything I could get a hold of,” he noted.
At 18, Loyie joined the armed forces and lived in Europe for a time before returning to Canada and working in fishing, logging, and native counselling for more than 25 years in B.C. and Alberta.
At 55, he went back to school and took creative writing. He taught himself to type and began reading again.
“Every time I read a good book, I wanted to write better,” he said.
A constant by his side through all these writing projects is Loyie’s partner, Constance Brissenden. She helped him shape “Ora Pro Nobis,” which was originally far too long to stage, he said.
Brissenden also shares writing credit on his three children’s books, and has written 14 books of her own about travel and history. She also is a freelance writer for various newspapers and trade publications.
Their latest book, “When the Spirits Dance,” also published by Theytus Books, was launched at the National Archive in Ottawa this fall as part of the TD Canadian Children’s Book Week program of touring authors.
It is a prequel to “As Long As the Rivers Flow,” and deals with a Cree boy’s struggle with the effects of war.
Holmlund was not available to do the illustrations for this book due to personal commitments, so Loyie and Brissenden decided to use photographs instead.
He is pleased with the result, but hopes Holmlund will be able to return for work on the next book.
He and Brissenden currently are at work on another book that will be a prequel to “When the Spirits Dance,” forming a trilogy.
The working title is “Rabbit Hill,” and is expected to be published in 2008.
Loyie may have began writing later in life, but he has no intention of slowing down. When asked which of his books is his best, Loyie replied with a sly grin, “I haven’t written my best book yet.”