Article

Richard Van Camp

Published Online October 3, 2023

Last Edited January 10, 2024

Richard Van Camp, ONWT, author, storyteller, professor, film producer (born 8 September 1971 in Fort Smith, NT). Richard Van Camp is an internationally renowned storyteller and best-selling Tłı̨chǫ Dene author, writer and professor. Van Camp is a prolific writer. As of 2023, he wrote 27 books in as many years. He is perhaps best known for his 1996 debut novel The Lesser Blessed, which was adapted into a film of the same name by Anita Doron in 2012. Doing so made him the first Tłı̨chǫ person to ever publish a novel. He is well known for his short stories, of which five collections have been published. A particularly versatile writer, Van Camp has also authored comic books, baby books and children’s books.

Early Life & Education

Richard Van Camp is the eldest of four boys. He has stated in interviews that he had a wonderful childhood and grew up in a wonderful community. He has said that his community and family cherished storytelling and that it was an important component of his life. He also relates that, as a child, he drew constantly. As he grew up, he noticed the titles of his drawings took up an increasing amount of space in relation to the images. By the time he was a teenager, his drawings were very small but had very long narrative titles. Van Camp has said that this is how he became a writer and author.

Van Camp’s mother, Rosah Wah-Shee, was forced to attend two residential schools while she was a child. She spent 12 years in the institutions, including the Breynat Hall Residential School in Fort Smith. She and Van Camp’s uncles were taken from their hometown (Fort Rae, Northwest Territories). During their time in the residential schools, they were forced to abandon their language, culture and traditions. They were also separated from their parents and extended family, save for a few short visits. Van Camp only learned this later in his own life and described his mother’s recollections of the experience as “heartbreaking.”

As a consequence, Van Camp endeavoured to teach his child as much as he could about their Tłı̨chǫ heritage, encouraging their participation in singing, drumming and ceremonies.

Van Camp describes storytelling as an integral aspect of both his own life and growing up as an Indigenous person in the Northwest Territories. In interviews, he related that “Northerners love stories” and that telling stories was a great way to honour someone. The Indigenous tradition of oral storytelling features prominently in his work.

Van Camp is a graduate of the En’owkin International School of Writing in Penticton, British Columbia. He earned a bachelor of fine arts in writing from the University of Victoria and a master of fine arts in creative writing from the University of British Columbia.

Career

Richard Van Camp

Richard Van Camp’s big break came when he was hired as an intern for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s groundbreaking Indigenous-focused television series North of 60, which was set in a fictional Dene community in the Northwest Territories. Van Camp also worked as a writer, script consultant and, perhaps most importantly, cultural consultant on the program for four seasons.

Van Camp was a contributor to the pioneering graphic novel anthology This Place: 150 Years Retold. This Place re-examines the 150 years since Confederation through an Indigenous lens, blending different styles of fiction with interconnected historical events to tell the story of Indigenous resistance and resilience in the face of European contact and colonization.

In addition to his writing career, Van Camp has several film production credits, including The Lesser Blessed (2012), Ronnie BoDean (2015), Three Feathers (2018) and Monkey Beach (2020).

Van Camp also has a career as a professor. This began with teaching creative writing at the University of British Columbia. He also worked at the Emily Carr Institute (now Emily Carr University of Art and Design) as a creative writing and storytelling instructor. In addition to teaching, Van Camp has held numerous writer-in-residence positions, including at the University of Alberta, MacEwan University, Athabasca University and the Edmonton Public Library.

In 2017, Van Camp and Nhung Tran-Davies established the Kemosa Scholarship for First Nations, Metis and Inuit Mothers Who Write. Additionally, he served as a mentor for the inaugural Audible Indigenous Writers’ Circle and as a judge for the Indigenous Voices Awards.


Awards & Accolades

  • Air Canada Award – Canadian Authors Association (1997)
  • Writer of the Year Award for Children’s Literature – Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers (1999)
  • Wordcraft Storyteller of the Year – Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers (2006-07)
  • Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)
  • George Bugnet Award (Godless but Loyal to Heaven) – Writers’ Guild of Alberta (2013)
  • Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature (Little You) – Writers’ Guild of Alberta (2015)
  • Eisner Award for Best Single Issue (A Blanket of Butterflies) – Eisner Awards (2016)
  • Canadian International Faith and Family Film Festival Award for Best Short Film (Three Feathers) – Canadian International Faith and Film Festival (2019)
  • George Bugnet Award (Moccasin Square Gardens) – Writers’ Guild of Alberta (2020)
  • Blue Metropolis First Peoples Literary Prize (Moccasin Square Gardens) – Blue Metropolis Festival (2021)
  • CODE Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Metis Young Adult Literature (Moccasin Square Gardens) – CODE (2021)
  • Inducted – Order of the Northwest Territories (2022)