Winter’s Tales Author Reading Series presents Eden Robinson

“I was born on the same day as Edgar Allan Poe and Dolly Parton,” jokes Eden Robinson, the next featured author in the Winter’s Tales Author Reading. “I am absolutely certain that this affects my writing in some way.”

Robinson is a powerful fiction writer of Haisla heritage born on the northern coast of British Columbia. She will bring her sense of humour and her visceral, impassioned, and deeply empathic new novel, Son of a Trickster, to the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown on Monday, March 13 at 7:30 pm.

The Strong Nations website notes that “Robinson has become one of Canada’s first female Native writers to gain international attention, making her an important role model.” She has been an advocate for Indigenous health care, housing, access to jobs, and land rights, and a critic of detrimental government policies. Her fiction has contributed significantly to the renaissance of Indigenous culture.

Robinson’s first book, a collection of stories, Traplines (1998), won the Winifred Holtby Prize for the best work of fiction in the Commonwealth. Traplines, which grew out of her Indigenous heritage, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice.

Her second book, the immensely popular novel Monkey Beach (2000), “is a mesmerizing tale of a young native woman coming of age while dealing with the demons that haunt her dreams, her family, and her heritage” (Peg Hill, Northern Star Magazine). Monkey Beach was nominated for the 2000 Governor General’s Award for fiction and the 2000 Giller Prize.

Son of a Trickster is a coming-of-age novel. Jared is a burnout kid in high school who sells weed cookies and has a scary mom who's often wasted. He smokes and drinks too much, but also has an immense capacity for compassion and an impulse to watch over people more than twice his age. He puzzles over why his maternal grandmother has never liked him and says he's the son of a trickster, that he isn't human. But ravens do speak to him—even when he's not stoned.

Eden received the 2016 Writers’ Trust of Canada Engel/Findley Award for a writer in mid-career with a remarkable body of work. The jury wrote, “In a world where the legacies of colonial violence are alive and present every day, Robinson’s work resonates with crucial political and ethical questions that everyone needs to consider. This is vital, engaged, and artful writing that sticks in the memory and makes us think about who, and where, we are.”

Eden Robinson’s reading is sponsored by the UPEI Faculty of Arts, the Department of English, and the Canada Council of the Arts. A book signing will follow. The public is invited and admission is free. For further information phone 902-566-0389.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.