Wayne Arthurson

Wayne Arthurson is the author of several novels and several books related to First Nations peoples.[1][2] He grew up on an Army base, in Alberta.[3][4] His parents are of Cree and French Canadian descent.

Quill & Quire published an op-ed by Arthurson on December 19, 2018, where he commented on the surprising phenomenon that novels by non-aboriginal authors, who write about First Nations peoples are far better known than First Nations authors.[2] He pointed out that only Jessie Cox made the top fifty of Goodreads' Native American mystery novels list.

In an interview with Shelagh Rogers, on CBC Radio, on March 27, 2020, he talked about escaping prejudice for being of First Nations heritage, because his heritage is not obvious to a cursory examination.[4]

Fiction

Arthurson's first novel, Final Season, published in 2002, is set in a First Nations community that faces profound environmental change, due to a new hydroelectric project.[5]

Arthurson has two mystery series he works on, in addition to stand-alone novels. The recurring hero of three of his novels, so far, is Leo Desroches, a metis journalist, who has had his own run-ins with the law.[3][6] Fall from Grace was published in 2011, A Killing Winter was published in 2012, and Blood Red Summer was published in 2015. In May 2017, in an interview, he said the fourth novel was tentatively titled Springtime Sacrifice.

His second series starts with Dishonour in Camp 133, which is set in a POW camp for captured Germans, in Alberta.[3] Arthurson says he was fascinated when he learned that the Germans themselves were allowed to administer their camp, because of a shortage of soldiers to serve as guards, and the difficulty for Germans to escape Canada and return to occupied Europe. He said that when he learned of the camp he immediately thought it would be a prime venue to set a murder mystery.

The hero of Arthurson's sixth novel, The Red Chesterfield, published in 2019, is "M", a by-law enforcement officer.[4] Arthurson told Shelagh Rogers he deliberately chose to play with, and break, some of the conventions as to how mystery novels are supposed to be written, what constitutes a "red herring", and how often they should be mentioned. While enforcing bylaws on where trash can be disposed of M finds a severed foot hidden in an abandoned chesterfield, and Rogers noted that Arthurson seemed to have made M devote as much or more investigative effort into the chesterfield as he did into the identity of the deceased.

Bibliography
  • Wayne Arthurson (2019). The Red Chesterfield. University of Calgary Press. ISBN 9781773850771.
  • Wayne Arthurson (2019). Dishonour in Camp 133. Turnstone Press Canada. ISBN 9780888016218.
  • Wayne Arthurson (2016). Blood Red Summer. Eschia Books. ISBN 9781926696270.
  • Wayne Arthurson (2015). Fall from Grace. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 9781515143406.
  • Wayne Arthurson (2012). Alberta's Weekly Newspapers. Folklore Pub. ISBN 9781926677804.
  • Wayne Arthurson (2012). A Killing Winter. Macmillan. ISBN 9781429924603.
  • Wayne Arthurson (2012). Spirit Animals. Eschia Books. ISBN 9781926696218.
  • Wayne Arthurson (2010). In the Shadow of Our Ancestors: The Inventions and Genius of the First Peoples. Eschia Books. ISBN 9781926696133.
  • Wayne Arthurson (2002). Final Season. Thistledown Press. ISBN 9781894345484.

References
  1. Fish Griwkowsky (2019-11-07). "Three to See Thursday: Arthurson launch, Rainbow Visions opens and Hideout dance party". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved 2020-04-13. Prolific Edmonton author Wayne Arthurson launches his latest, a crime novel, family drama and fable all at once.
  2. Wayne Arthurson (2018-12-19). "Diversity in crime writing: Wayne Arthurson on how white voices overwhelm Indigenous crime fiction". Quill & Quire. Retrieved 2020-04-13. The Stoic Warrior, the Uncanny Tracker, the Magic Indian, the Comic Relief Indian, the Wise Elder, the Savage Indian, the Badass Native, the Environmental Activist, the Corrupt Chief – these broad portrayals take up a lot of character space in these novels.
  3. Candy Palmater (2017-05-24). "Blood Red Summer: Wayne Arthurson". CBC Books. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  4. Shelagh Rogers (2020-03-27). "Wayne Arthurson plays with the mystery genre and magic in his novel The Red Chesterfield". CBC Radio. Retrieved 2020-04-14. In his latest, The Red Chesterfield, he purposefully subverts the mystery form with a story that has clues that lead nowhere and motivations that are deliberately ambiguous.
  5. Jim Bartley (2003-01-04). "Keeping despair at bay". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2020-04-14. In Edmonton writer Wayne Arthurson's debut novel, the lakeside village of Grand Rapids, Manitoba, becomes the forlorn hub of a native fishing community negotiating the shocks of a massive hydro-electric project.
  6. Rachel Haliburton (2018). "The Ethical Detective: Moral Philosophy and Detective Fiction". Lexington Books. pp. 87, 99, 102, 103, 130. ISBN 9781498536813. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
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