Tête-à-Tête
Tomson Highway & T’áncháy Redvers
Adrian Harewood, host
Saturday, May 27th, 7:00 pm ET
Centre Wakefield La Pêche
ATTEND IN PERSON OR ONLINE!
Tickets will be available April 4th.
TOMSON HIGHWAY, playwright, novelist, pianist and song writer, was born in Manitoba to a family of nomadic caribou hunters. He grew up speaking his mother tongue Cree, and Dene, the language of the neighbouring nation.
After receiving bachelor’s degrees in music and arts (English), he spent seven years in the field of Native social work, then poured himself into writing. Tomson is a former artistic director of Canada’s premiere aboriginal theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. He is best known for his plays including The Rez Sisters, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Rose, Ernestine Shuswap Gets her Trout, and the Juno-nominated (The Post) Mistress.
His books include the 1998 novel Kiss of the Fur Queen, and a trilogy of children’s books: Caribou Song, Dragon Fly Kites and Fox on the Ice. Tomson’s 2021 memoir Permanent Astonishment won the 2021 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
In 2022, Tomson released his first album of Cree-language country songs, Cree Country.
Tomson is the recipient of 11 honorary doctorates and is an officer of the Order of Canada. He has received numerous awards, including the Dora Mavor Moore Award, the 2022 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award: Lifetime Artistic Achievement award, and the National Aboriginal Achievement Award. Tomson was chosen to deliver the 2022 CBC Massey Lectures, which he titled Laughing with the Trickster: On Sex, Death, and Accordions. Fluent in Cree, French and English, he continues to write, teach, lecture, and perform across Canada and around the world. Photo credit: Sean Howard
After receiving bachelor’s degrees in music and arts (English), he spent seven years in the field of Native social work, then poured himself into writing. Tomson is a former artistic director of Canada’s premiere aboriginal theatre company, Native Earth Performing Arts. He is best known for his plays including The Rez Sisters, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Rose, Ernestine Shuswap Gets her Trout, and the Juno-nominated (The Post) Mistress.
His books include the 1998 novel Kiss of the Fur Queen, and a trilogy of children’s books: Caribou Song, Dragon Fly Kites and Fox on the Ice. Tomson’s 2021 memoir Permanent Astonishment won the 2021 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
In 2022, Tomson released his first album of Cree-language country songs, Cree Country.
Tomson is the recipient of 11 honorary doctorates and is an officer of the Order of Canada. He has received numerous awards, including the Dora Mavor Moore Award, the 2022 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award: Lifetime Artistic Achievement award, and the National Aboriginal Achievement Award. Tomson was chosen to deliver the 2022 CBC Massey Lectures, which he titled Laughing with the Trickster: On Sex, Death, and Accordions. Fluent in Cree, French and English, he continues to write, teach, lecture, and perform across Canada and around the world. Photo credit: Sean Howard
T’ÁNCHÁY REDVERS [they/them] is a Dene & Métis two-spirit advocate, writer, creator, facilitator, and multidisciplinary performer belonging to Deninu K’ue First Nation in Treaty 8 territory. With a BA in International Development Studies, Certificate in Civic Engagement & Global Citizenship, and Master of Indigenous Social Work, they have been nationally and internationally recognized for their work and advocacy, and featured in the Toronto Star, Buzzfeed, Globe and Mail, ETalk, TEDx, and more.
At the age of 21, T’áncháy and their brother, Kelvin, founded We Matter, a national Indigenous-led campaign and non-profit dedicated to Indigenous youth hope and life promotion. We Matter has become an international model for Indigenous youth life promotion efforts, garnering the Redvers siblings the Lawson Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Award and a Governor General Meritorious Service Medal.
T’áncháy is a poet (Fireweed, 2019) and children’s author (Fluffy and the Stars, forthcoming August 2023). She’s also a screenwriter, and is featured in numerous creative, anthology and academic publications. They have story-edited and written for shows airing on Netflix, Crave, Apple TV+, and PBS Kids. In addition to over 100 talks, workshops and panels delivered across North America and beyond, they are a performance artist and actor with credits including Pride Toronto, CBC Gem and Paramount+. They are a member of BIPOC TV & Film Board of Directors/Visioning Committee, an organization working to uproot barriers for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour across Canada & screen media industry.
At the age of 21, T’áncháy and their brother, Kelvin, founded We Matter, a national Indigenous-led campaign and non-profit dedicated to Indigenous youth hope and life promotion. We Matter has become an international model for Indigenous youth life promotion efforts, garnering the Redvers siblings the Lawson Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Award and a Governor General Meritorious Service Medal.
T’áncháy is a poet (Fireweed, 2019) and children’s author (Fluffy and the Stars, forthcoming August 2023). She’s also a screenwriter, and is featured in numerous creative, anthology and academic publications. They have story-edited and written for shows airing on Netflix, Crave, Apple TV+, and PBS Kids. In addition to over 100 talks, workshops and panels delivered across North America and beyond, they are a performance artist and actor with credits including Pride Toronto, CBC Gem and Paramount+. They are a member of BIPOC TV & Film Board of Directors/Visioning Committee, an organization working to uproot barriers for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour across Canada & screen media industry.
ADRIAN HAREWOOD is an Associate Professor of Journalism at Carleton University. The former host of CBC Ottawa’s drive home radio show All in A Day, he was the anchor of CBC Ottawa News at Six from 2009 to 2022.
In 2020, Adrian won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Local Anchor, and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Interviewer in 2017. He has been the guest host of national CBC programs The Current, As It Happens, Sounds Like Canada, The House, Counterspin, Hot Type, and Power and Politics. He was also the host of programs on BRAVO and PBS including Literati, The Actors, The Directors, Playwrights and Screenwriters.
Adrian has interviewed Angela Davis, Salman Rushdie, Eduardo Galeano, Bill Clinton, Wayne Shorter, Bob Woodward, Deepa Mehta, Naomi Klein, Ken Dryden, Alanis Obomsawin, Joy Kogawa, David Sedaris, Steven Pinker, Lawrence Hill, Barbara Gowdy, Austin Clarke, Andrea Levy, Branford Marsalis, Margaret Macmillan, Ken Burns, David Suzuki, Esi Edugyan, Malcolm Gladwell, Chris Hedges, Femi Kuti, Tariq Ali, Niall Ferguson, John Irving, Dionne Brand, Conrad Black and Donald Trump.
Adrian is a board member of Journalists for Human Rights and of the Writers' Union of Canada.
In 2020, Adrian won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Local Anchor, and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Interviewer in 2017. He has been the guest host of national CBC programs The Current, As It Happens, Sounds Like Canada, The House, Counterspin, Hot Type, and Power and Politics. He was also the host of programs on BRAVO and PBS including Literati, The Actors, The Directors, Playwrights and Screenwriters.
Adrian has interviewed Angela Davis, Salman Rushdie, Eduardo Galeano, Bill Clinton, Wayne Shorter, Bob Woodward, Deepa Mehta, Naomi Klein, Ken Dryden, Alanis Obomsawin, Joy Kogawa, David Sedaris, Steven Pinker, Lawrence Hill, Barbara Gowdy, Austin Clarke, Andrea Levy, Branford Marsalis, Margaret Macmillan, Ken Burns, David Suzuki, Esi Edugyan, Malcolm Gladwell, Chris Hedges, Femi Kuti, Tariq Ali, Niall Ferguson, John Irving, Dionne Brand, Conrad Black and Donald Trump.
Adrian is a board member of Journalists for Human Rights and of the Writers' Union of Canada.