Want fewer ads?

Tomson Highway, CM (born December 5, 1951) is a Cree playwright, novelist, and children's author from Brochet, Manitoba. He is the celebrated author of the plays The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, both of which won him the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Floyd S. Chalmers Award. The Rez Sisters became a hit across Canada and went on to the Edinburgh International Festival in 1988. Both of these plays focus on the native community on a reserve on Manitoulin Island, with The Rez Sisters depicting (in a somewhat abstract style) the women of the community planning a trip to the biggest bingo game ever, in Toronto; while Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing depicts (in a more abstract style) the men's interest in hockey. Rose, written in 2000, is the third play in the trilogy.

Highway has also published a novel, Kiss of the Fur Queen (1998), which is based on the events that led to his brother René Highway’s death of AIDS. He also has the distinction of being the librettist of the first Cree language opera, The Journey or Pimooteewin.

He is related to actor/playwight Billy Merasty. He was artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto as well as De-ba-jeh-mu-jig theatre group in Wikwemikong. He obtained his B.A. in Music in 1975 and his B.A. in English in 1977, both from the University of Western Ontario. Highway holds three honorary degrees and in 1994 became a member of the Order of Canada.

In 2000, Maclean's named him as one of the 100 most important people in Canadian history. Cree is his first language.

In 2001, he received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the field of arts and culture.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tomson Highway", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0