And the rez was born

Here I am, ready with some brand new information for you! We have been talking about theatre and how great “The Rez sisters” is, but I still haven't talked about the amazing man who wrote it.

The author of the play is Tomson Highway, a cool name for a very cool person.

Tomson Highway

Born in 1951, this full blood Cree is a registered member of the Barren Lands First Nation, the village for which is called Brochet, located in northern Manitoba, where it meets Saskatchewan and what is now called Nunavut.

Since his family was a nomadic caribou hunters, he didn't grow up in the reserve. When it was time to go to school, according to the policies regarding natives at that time, he was sent to Guy Hill Indian Residential School, from age 6 to 15, where he was abused by the priests who ran the school ( I won't go into further detail about it, but it is a very controversial topic until now, since many First Nations have issued Canada's government for the treatment these poor kids received. Anyways, if you are interested in it let me know in the comments).

After leaving (or surviving) the school, he got a double bachelor with honors in Music and English (1975- 1976). In case you hadn't noticed by now, he is an artist from head to toe, something he says he has inherited, because his mother was an artist of her own, being a very skillful person in bead-worker and quilt maker.

After graduating, he worked for seven years in the field of native social work, helping children, parents, inmates in prisons, women, two-spirits and other native social workers and activists.

Finally, in 1986, he published his 6^th play, The Rez Sisters. This was the first one in a planned seven-play cycle all based on the same set of characters, themes and settings. So far the play has been followed by two others: Dry lips oughta move to Kapuskasing and Rose.

Lucky Nanabush

In 1998, he published his first novel “Kiss of the fur queen”, in memory of his brother, native dancer and choreographer René Highway, who died from AIDS.

Highway has received many awards, such as the National Aboriginal Achievement Award (2001) or the Order of Canada (1994), but as his official web page (http://www.tomsonhighway.com ) says, he has also earned “others too embarrassingly numerous to list. In fact, at one point in his life, his trophy case collapsed from the terrible weight and killed three people.”

He has also been a writer-in-residence at several Canadian universities and has also taught Aboriginal Mythology at the University of Toronto.

And, just in case this wasn't enough, he holds more honorary doctorates than you could count.

That's all folks! At least by now. But before I go, let me show you an interview with Highway. I hope you enjoy it!