Author Eden Robinson was welcomed into Tseshaht territory on March 20 where she read from a selection of her short and long fiction, including her landmark novel Monkey Beach.
About 60 people gathered in the Tseshaht Great Room for the event, organized by North Island College through its Write Here Readers Series, and from many accounts the event was filled with warmth and good humor.
Dawn Foxcroft had just finished reading Monkey Beach the night before the evening with Robinson, who is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations, currently living in Kitamaat Village.
“I appreciated her writing style, her insights into her community and really looked forward to meeting her,” said Foxcroft, and the author didn’t disappoint.
Foxcroft said Robinson filled the room with her contagious laughter, “so much so my cheeks hurt when I left.” Even though Robinson’s writing can be very dark with very serious subject matter, the author was incredibly friendly, Foxcroft noted.
Author Thomas King has said about the novelist’s work “Monkey Beach creates a vivid contemporary landscape that draws her reader deep into a traditional world, a hidden universe of premonition, pain and power.”
Robinson also read a passage from Sasquatch at Home. She explained that this had actually been taken from her first keynote speech, said Foxcroft. Had Robinson realized the speech was going to be published, she said she would have been more serious.
The turn-out for the reading at Tseshaht was great with a “wonderful mix” of Tseshaht community members and the general public, said Foxcroft.
“It felt good to have this event hosted in our building, overlooking the river. I would love to see more of these types of activities taking place bringing our communities together,” she said.
Foxcroft said Robinson’s reading has inspired her to read more of the author’s work.
“She is a talented author and an inspiring First Nations woman who gives voice to the issues and magic of our communities.”
