Spreading gospel of Indigenous lit
Curve Lake author explains his journey
When an Indigenous teenager from Curve Lake First Nation was told he couldn’t make a career out of creative writing, he listened.
That advice eventually backfired, though, and Drew Hayden Taylor is now one of Canada’s most well-known Indigenous storytellers.
He’s an author, playwright, columnist, filmmaker, and lecturer, to be precise.
Yet many years ago, Taylor was told by his Grade 11 English teacher that people can’t make a living in creative writing.
Taylor’s mom also questioned his desire to write, telling him it wouldn’t get him anywhere.
“The best revenge is living a good life,” Taylor told high school students in Adam Scott Collegiate’s auditorium Tuesday.
Taylor, 56, spoke to students about his journey from a boy on a reserve to a man who has travelled to 18 countries, spreading the “gospel” of Indigenous literature.
“All things are possible … and as cliché as it might sound, the sky is the limit,” Taylor said.
There was a time, however, when Taylor didn’t think way.
He pushed aside his ideas of creative writing to study broadcast journalism at a post-secondary school in Toronto.
When he graduated, he didn’t really want to work in journalism, so he picked up contract jobs, managing sound for productions, for instance.
He eventually stumbled across a television series about an Indigenous community in northwestern Ontario that only had nonIndigenous writers on set.
Taylor got his foot in the door by reading their scripts for accuracy. And that’s where he learned all about TV.
Soon afterward, Taylor was writing for TV and theatre. He penned an episode for The Beachcombers by the time he was 25.
Taylor continued to work in the TV and theatre industries for 15 years before ever wrote his first book — and even then, he didn’t feel ready.
A publishing company approached Taylor, asking him to write a novel. He wasn’t keen on it, but when they offered to pay him upfront, he took the deal.
His task was to write about 50,000 words, a big step up from the 3,000 he was used to writing.
“I was terrified I’d bitten off more than I could chew,” Taylor told the students.
Not long after, words started flowing, and within two months, Taylor had finished his first book, an Indigenous vampire novel.
He decided to take a different approach to Indigenous writing than he’d seen the past, a humorous one. After years of colonization, Indigenous literature often dealt with pain and oppression, Taylor said.
“I’m more interested in healing through humour.”
Before his speech in the auditorium, Taylor chatted with a Grade 12 film class about his experiences in storytelling.
His wisdom was a real eye opener for Khira McFadden, 17.
“That was a bit of a wake-up call for me,” she said.
McFadden is planning to go to film school in Toronto and would like to become a director or screenwriter, or better yet, both.
What she didn’t realize was that artists’ creative visions aren’t often actualized in the way they want them to be, which can be a tough pill to swallow.
But she’s glad she learned that now.
“I definitely not going in with unrealistic expectations anymore — I think that’s definitely going to help me,” McFadden said.