Tomson Highway
| Tomson Highway | |
|---|---|
Tomson Highway at the University of the Fraser Valley in October 2011
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| Born |
6 December 1951 Brochet, Manitoba |
| Occupation | Playwright, novelist, children's author |
| Language | English, Cree |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Ethnicity | Cree |
| Alma mater | University of Western Ontario |
| Notable works | The Rez Sisters, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Kiss of the Fur Queen |
| Notable awards | Dora Mavor Moore Award, Floyd S. Chalmers Award |
| Website | |
| tomsonhighway |
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Tomson Highway, CM (born 6 December 1951) is an Aboriginal Canadian playwright, novelist, and children's author. He is best known for his plays The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, both of which won him the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Floyd S. Chalmers Award.
Highway has also published a novel, Kiss of the Fur Queen (1998), which is based on the events that led to his brother René Highway’s death of AIDS. He also has the distinction of being the librettist of the first Cree language opera, The Journey or Pimooteewin.
Tomson Highway was born north of Brochet, Manitoba in 1951 to Pelagie Highway, a bead-worker and quilt-maker, and Joe Highway, a caribou hunter and champion dogsled racer. Cree is his first language. He is related to actor/playwight Billy Merasty. From age six to fifteen, he attended Guy Hill Indian Residential School.
He obtained his B.A. in Honours Music in 1975 and his B.A. in English in 1976, both from the University of Western Ontario. While working on his degree, he met playwright James Reaney. For seven years, Highway worked as a social worker on reserves across Ontario and Canada. Subsequently, he turned the knowledge and experience gained by working in these places into novels and plays that have won him widespread recognition across Canada and around the world.
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