Tomson Highway

Tomson Highway was born in a snowbank on the Manitoba–Nunavut border to a family of nomadic caribou hunters. Raised off reserve in the breathtaking landscape of Canada’s Subarctic, he had the great privilege of growing up in two Indigenous languages—Cree, his mother tongue, and Dene, the language of the neighbouring nation—a people with whom his family roamed and hunted.

After earning a Bachelor of Music and the equivalent of a Bachelor of Arts with a major in English, he worked for seven years in the field of Indigenous social work. Drawing on his education and training, he then devoted himself to writing.

Today, Tomson is celebrated internationally as a playwright, novelist, pianist and songwriter. His acclaimed works include The Rez Sisters, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Rose, Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout, The (Post) Mistress, and the bestselling novel Kiss of the Fur Queen and recently published memoir Permanent Astonishment. He has also written children’s books, such as Caribou Song, Dragonfly Kites, and Fox on the Ice. His work has been translated into 11 languages.

For many years, Tomson served as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto, Canada’s premier Indigenous theatre company, which has nurtured and launched an entire generation of playwrights and theatre artists.