// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy did Wayne Arthurson bring a ladder? He wanted to take his writing to new Arthur-son heights.
Wayne Arthurson is a Canadian writer and literary agent born in the province of Quebec and living in Edmonton, Alberta.[1][2] He is the author of several novels and several books related to First Nations peoples,[3][4] His parents are of Cree and French Canadian descent. He grew up on an army base.[5][6]
Career
[edit]Since the age of twenty-four, he has lived from his writing, whether as a journalist, freelance writer or novelist. He has published over two hundred articles in magazines and newspapers.[7] He developed his skills during his time working as a security guard, as told to CBC Radio,[8] He echos the pitfalls of what is labelled as Native American mystery novels: thrillers written by non-Indegenous perpetrating stereotypes such as the stoic warrior, the corrupted Chief, or the wise elder, thus creating a false sense of authenticity.[9][10]
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.[11]
Arthurson has two mystery series. One with the recurring hero Leo Desroches, a metis journalist, who has had his own run-ins with the law[5][12]: Fall from Grace published in 2011, A Killing Winter published in 2012, and Blood Red Summer published in 2016. They were followed by the second series featuring Sergeant Neumann: The Traitors of Camp 133 in 2016 and Dishonour in Camp 133 in 2019, set in a POW camp for captured Germans, in Alberta.[5] The Red Chesterfield, published in 2019, features "M", a by-law enforcement officer,[6] threading not so carefully amidst family members "J" and "K".
He is translated in French by Alire and Héliotrope.
In October 2021, he joined The Rights Factory as a literary agent.[13]
Awards and honors
[edit]Arthurson won the Alberta Readers' Choice Award in 2012 with his first novel Fall From Grace. He won the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in May 2020 (formerly the Arthur Ellis Award) for best crime novella with The Red Chesterfield.[14] He was also shortlisted twice for the High Plains Book Awards in the Best Indigenous Writer category.
Bibliography
[edit]- Wayne Arthurson (2019). The Red Chesterfield. University of Calgary Press. ISBN 9781773850771.
- Wayne Arthurson (2019). Dishonour in Camp 133. Turnstone Press. ISBN 9780888016218.
- Wayne Arthurson (2016). Traitors of Camp 133. Ravenstone. ISBN 978-0-88801-587-7
- Wayne Arthurson (2016). Blood Red Summer. Eschia Books. ISBN 9781926696270.
- Wayne Arthurson (2015). Fall from Grace. self-published. 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
[edit]- ↑ "Wayne Arthurson - Éditions Héliotrope". www.editionsheliotrope.com (in French). Retrieved 2026-04-16.
- ↑ "Wayne Arthurson". The Rights Factory. Retrieved 2026-04-16.
- ↑
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.
- ↑
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.
- 1 2 3 Candy Palmater (2017-05-24). "Blood Red Summer: Wayne Arthurson". CBC Books. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
- 1 2
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.
- ↑ Wayne Arthurson | Writers' Trust of Canada
- ↑ How Wayne Arthurson started writing novels | CBC Radio
- ↑ Blick, William (March 2025). "Mary Stoecklein. Indigenous Investigations: Native American Mystery Writing". Crime Fiction Studies. 6 (1): 128–130. doi:10.3366/cfs.2025.0142. ISSN 2517-7982.
- ↑ Diversity in crime writing: Wayne Arthurson on how white voices overwhelm Indigenous crime fiction
- ↑
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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ The Rights Factory is thrilled to... - The Rights Factory | Facebook
- ↑ "Welcome to 2023-24 Writer-in-Residence Wayne Arthurson". www.ualberta.ca. Retrieved 2026-04-16.