Born in Curve Lake, Ontario, Drew Hayden Taylor is part Ojibwa and part Caucasian. About this mixed background, his biography offers this quote from Taylor: “I plan to start my own nation. Because I am half Ojibway half Caucasian, we will be called the occasions. And of course, since I’m founding the new nation, I will be a special occasion.”
In his career, Taylor has worn many hats. For example, he has performed stand-up comedy at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and served as Artistic Director of Canada’s premiere Native theatre company. Also, in 2004 he was appointed to the Ontario Ministry of Culture Advisory Committee.
As for writing kudos, he has been an award-winning playwright (receiving over 70 productions of his work), documentarian (having worked on over 17 documentaries exploring the Native experience, a journalist/columnist (appearing regularly in several Canadian newspapers and magazines), television scriptwriter (including writing for notable shows such as The Beachcombers, Street Legal and North of 60), short-story writer, and novelist.
Although based in Toronto, Taylor has also traveled to seventeen countries around the world, trying to educate the world about the lives of Canada’s First Nations and spreading the gospel of Native literature. He was even invited to Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute in California, where he taught a series of seminars on the depiction of Native characters in fiction, drama and film.
ALLISON: What are your earliest memories?
DREW: Half remembered memories of playing inside a lilac bush out in front of my old house. Watching my uncle or mother put wood in a stove. Lying down on the grass with my dog and watching the rain fall directly onto my face.
ALLISON: You are half Ojibway and half Caucasian. How does this give you a unique perspective?
DREW: It gives me a special ability to deal with topics like identity. A lot of my work deals with that topic, from many of my plays i.e. IN A WORLD CREATED BY A DRUNKEN GOD, THE BOY IN THE TREEHOUSE, TORONTO AT DREAMER’S ROCK, THE SOMEDAY TRILOGY, alterNATIVES, and many more. I find myself always investigating what being Native means….. Same with many of my essays like PRETTY LIKE A WHITE BOY which was the corner stone of my four part series of creative non-fiction books, FUNNY, YOU DON’T LOOK LIKE ONE.
ALLISON: Why did you write about a Ojibway vampire?
DREW: For a number of reasons, I wanted to culturally appropriate a European legend and indigenize it. Also, may successful writers harbour a secret wish to write genre. Tom King has a murder mystery series he writes. And at the time, vampire tales were quite popular. It could be more basic than that…. I wanted to do something new and to the best of my knowledge, untried before. A new genre…. aboriginal gothic.
ALLISON: What inspires you to spread the “gospel of Native literature”?
DREW: I think part of our responsibility as writers, and more importantly Native writers, is to tell the world about our stories – what we write and why we write it. I am just one warrior in the battle for literary recognition. We all must let the world know about all the great things we have written and will write. Also, when you are on tour, you sometimes get tired of just talking about yourself and your work, and want to include the writing other people are contributing to the cause.
ALLISON: What is your proudest moment?
DREW: Tough question. I don’t know if I have one yet. It could have been when I was nominated twice for the Governor General’s award, or when my first book came out or when my mother said she was proud of me.
In 2007, Annick Press published Taylor’s first novel, The Night Wanderer. I’ll review The Night Wanderer tomorrow. Save the date: June 12!
Book Blogs
members read, blog, write, and publicize books
Children's Book Review
helping adults to grow readers by offering reviews and book lists of the best books for kids of all ages, as well as interviews and literacy-based articles
Fourth Musketeer
Reviews of historical fiction and nonfiction for young people
From the Mixed-Up Files
group blog of middle-grade authors celebrating books for middle-grade readers.
Kid Reads
info about favorite books, series, and authors for kids
Kids Right To Read
Offers support, education, and advocacy to people facing book challenges or bans and engages local activists in promoting the freedom to read.
Midwest Review
major Internet resource of reviews for publishers, writers, librarians, booksellers, and book lovers of all ages and interests
Nonfiction Monday
Rounding up the best nonfiction for children and teens.
Teen Text Talk
reviews and teacher advisories for young adult literature
Américas Award for Children’s & Young Adult Literature
CLASP founded the Américas Award in 1993 to encourage and commend authors, illustrators and publishers who produce quality children’s and young adult books that portray Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the United States.
American Library Association Awards
awards include Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott, Sibert, Theodor Giesel, and Laura Ingalls Wilder medals
Children's Book Awards
The Children’s & Teen Choice Book Awards is the only national book awards program where the winning titles are selected by children and teens.
Christy Award
The Christy Awards are awarded each year to recognize novels of excellence written from a Christian worldview.
Cybils
children and young adult blogger literacy awards
Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award
The Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award was initiated in 2000 to recognize authors, illustrators, and publishers of high quality fictional and biographical books for young people that appropriately portray individuals with developmental disabilities
Hans Christian Anderson Award
The Hans Christian Andersen Awards is given to a living author and illustrator whose complete works have made a lasting contribution to children’s literature. The award is the highest international recognition an author can receive.
Middle East Book Award
The Middle East Book Award recognizes quality books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to an understanding of the Middle East and its component societies and cultures.
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award
Honors fantasy books for younger readers, in the tradition of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia
National Book Award
Established in 1950, the National Book Award is an American literary prize administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
Red House Book Award
The Red House Children’s Book Award is a series of literary prizes for works of children’s literature published during the previous year in England.
Sydney Taylor Award
The Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
Top Ten Tuesday
Born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
YALSA Awards
YALSA honors the best teen literature each year with its six literary awards, including Alex, Morris, and Printz.
Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind
blog about children’s and YA books set in Asia, with Asian characters or characters of Asian descent, and with Asian authors and illustrators or of Asian descent.
IBBY
international network of people from all over the world who are committed to bringing books and children together
Jewish Book Council
book list curated by the Association of Jewish Libraries, which fosters access to information, learning, teaching and research related to the Jewish experience
Latinos in Kid Lit
Exploring the World of Latino YA, MG, and Children’s Literature
Oyate
educational organization that reviews children’s literature and advocates for Native Americans to be portrayed with historical accuracy and cultural appropriateness
Paper Tigers
emphasis on books set in Pacific Rim and Asia
Sea Stacks
information about Atlantic Canada books for children and young people
The Brown Bookshelf
push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers.
Saturday Snapshot
To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and write a caption for it.
Six Word Saturday
All that’s necessary to participate is to describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words.
Wish List Wednesday
Post about one book per week that has been on your wishlist for some time, or just added, that you can’t wait to get off the wishlist and onto your wonderful shelves.
Feline Friday
All you have to do is post a picture of a cat on your website.
Saturday Review
Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week.
Leave a Reply