Drew Hayden Taylor

Award Winning Author and Playwrite

By Karen Irvine

I met Drew for lunch at Charlotte Anne’s Restaurant in Peterborough to find out what makes him tick. The perfect atmosphere to just sit, chat and enjoy a meal. Drew is an Award-winning Author who writes in a variety of styles.

He’s a handsome, First Nations Indigenous man, with blue eyes and blonde hair. At first glance, he doesn’t look Indigenous. He was born and raised on Curve Lake, and lived there until he was 18. He kicked around Toronto doing odd jobs for awhile - the Canadian Native Arts Foundation, and as a training producer for CBC radio. He’s back living on Curve Lake for 14 years.

Drew is about exploring both genre and medium, and is primarily known as a play writer. He has written over 20 plays and approximately 100 productions. He has 2 novels, 2 collections of short stories, several collections of essays and articles, and 32 books. His writing focus is on Aboriginal culture and humour (the Indigenous funny bone, as he calls it). His 33rd book, Chasing Painted Horses, will be released in the fall.

Drew’s first serious writing credit was in 1987 for the television series ‘The Beach Combers’ at age 25, and his first publication was in 1990. A humorous collection of personal essays on identity called ‘Funny You Don’t Look Like One – Observations of a Blue Eyed Ojibway’ put Drew on the map 25 years ago.

He wanted to be a writer for most of his childhood, but his grade 11 English Teacher at Lakefield District SS told him there was no point, he couldn’t make a living at it. His mother wasn’t too impressed either, so he let it go for 7 or 8 years. It wasn’t until his mid 20’s that the fever got the better of him. “It wasn’t a matter of me tracking down and conquering my art, my art literally had to track me down and remind me that I am a writer. And I always liked being a writer. You create short stories or a play. You are essentially creating a universe”, says Drew, “And the thing I discovered that I thought was really cool as a teenager, was that I had more control over the universe I created than the universe I lived in. And that appealed to me. It was a bizarre series of circumstances. I was writing an article and adapting native stories for television, and a producer suggested I submit story ideas. I did, and they bought my first one”.

Playwriting was easy for Drew. “I grew up across the road from my Grandparents, and they would have

bonfires where aunts, uncles and cousins would come and tell funny stories. And when you think about theatre, it’s telling stories through dialogue. And I grew up surrounded by dialogue.”

“Drew’s first serious writing credit was ... for the television series ‘The Beach Combers”

Drew’s first novel, The Night Wanderer (a native Vampire story), was published in the early 2000’s. He wrote it in the early 1990’s and decided to adapt it as a novel 10 years later. “If nobody wants it, it’s not so much a comment on what you have written, but it may not be it’s time. So when I got the opportunity to write a novel, I shook the dust off it. And the reason it didn’t work as a play, was that it was meant to be a novel.” ‘Motorcycles and Sweetgrass’ was rejected by three publishers. Drew’s advice to aspiring writers is, “If it failed, don’t throw it out. It’s either not it’s time or not it’s way of expression. Sometimes rewriting is setting it aside for months or years separating it so you can look at it with objective eyes.”

Drew loves celebrating and featuring Indigenous humour. “A good chunk of contemporary native literature deals with the dark, bleak, sad and angry prospect of indigenous life. Almost all of the characters coming out of contemporary literature are oppressed, depressed or suppressed. I have been very lucky to have traveled to over 140 native communities in Canada and the States, and everywhere I’ve been, I’ve been greeted with a laugh, a smile and a joke, and I wasn’t seeing this in a lot of literature.” Drew went on to say, “An Elder on the Blood Reserve in Alberta said humour is the WD40 of healing. And that stuck with me.”

I asked if he see things as leveling out, where Indigenous writers won’t be considered a separate genre? “I definitely think so.”

Does he feel Indigenous people segregate themselves by identifying mostly with their background? “That’s a very interesting question, because for awhile I used to be one of the planners for a festival in Eden Mills, and was asked to organize the Indigenous Authors Stage. One author sent a very angry letter to the Board of Directors, saying he doesn’t appreciate being segregated on a literary reserve. He said he is as talented and as successful as mainstream writers, and asked why he couldn’t be on the other stage. I asked people this question, they said they like having the Aboriginal area. They came to see the Aboriginal Writers and could see them on one stage.

Drew Hayden Taylor has received too many accolades to mention, you can find them on his website, www. drewhaydentaylor.com. The hour that I spent with Drew was most enjoyable. He has an exciting view on life and his positive spirit is like a breath of fresh air.