Lauded Aboriginal author continues Trickster’s tale
Monkey Beach established Kitimat Haisla/Heiltsuk author Eden Robinson as one of the most exciting voices in Canadian literature. Having your second book nominated for both the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award has a way of putting you in the spotlight. Crafting such exquisite coming-of-age tales that can bring equal parts tears of sadness and laughter takes a certain kind of narrative genius too.
As her subsequent works have made clear, Robinson has no shortage of ideas.
Her latest release, Trickster Drift, came out this month. It’s the second book in a trilogy that began with 2017’s Son of a Trickster. It follows the notat-all-average family life and experience of Jared, a 16-yearold high-school burner who is described by his grandmother as a “Trickster who smells like lightning.” He’s a character very dear to Robinson, whose own time as a dark-and-stormy teenage goth still echoes in her work.
On the day of her book release at the UBC Museum of Anthropology, complete with a performance by the Polaris Prizenominated Snotty Nose Rez Kids — the group includes some cousins — she discussed her new book, the coming Monkey Beach movie and future novel plans.
Q Family dynamics play such a key part in the unique transformational journeys of both Lisamarie (Monkey Beach) and Jared (Son of a Trickster, Trickster Drift), with much of it occurring within recounting of verbal storytelling. Are you the best storyteller in your family?
A I come from a family, on both sides, of really excellent storytellers and I am. I ramble, I go off on tangents, I forget things. When I discovered writing it was wonderful because you could go
back, correct, edit — these things are your friends.
Q Did you take the same tools to the screenplay for Monkey Beach, which is currently being shot in Kitimat?
A Oh my goodness no. When we started with this 10 years ago, Loretta Todd (director) was convinced I would write the screenplay, and my first run-through was over 300 pages and hadn’t significantly changed the story to suit film. So I fired myself and went back to writing novels, and when the scriptwriters came and showed me what they were doing, I could see why and understand why it was good it wasn’t me.
Q So is the next thing to take the Trickster trilogy to the screen? Or did you have another project in mind?
A The trilogy would make a good TV series, and I could see it going there. Once the third book is all done, I would like to do one of two things. Either write a trashy band council romance — a literary sub-genre I may have just created — or a science fiction apocalypse story.