by Janet Smellie
Northern News Services

NNSL (Dec 08/97) - One of Nunavut's favorite storyteller Michael Kusugak now knows the true meaning of life on the road.

During a recent tour in the United States, Kusugak, who was on his way from the International Reading Conference in Tuscon, Arizona, ended up stranded at the airport in Denver, Colo.

"There were thousands of people stuck there. All the flights were cancelled, we couldn't go anywhere, no hotel rooms available. For 24 hours we were all stuck there," Kusugak says, adding, "I just sat around and read. I caught the final game of the Florida Marlins, it was one big pyjama party."

Kusugak, whose children's books (Baseball Bats for Christmas and A Promise is a Promise) are now winning awards and selling internationally, is working on several projects including A Girl Named Agatha, a new novel he's written for young readers.

The book will include three stories, following the antics of Agatha, including Agatha and the Ugly Black Thing, a story about a young girl and her reaction to seeing the Goodyear Blimp.

"She's a little girl with a real mind of her own," he says, noting the story follows the events surrounding a visit the huge dirigible actually made to Repulse Bay in 1958.

"When the Goodyear Blimp flew over, we'd never ever seen anything like it. Agatha chases it away like a big bomb."

Kusugak is also working on the documentary films The Road to Nunavut and the Unlikely Couple, a film by Czech filmmaker Vladimir Kabelik and includes footage from Rankin Inlet.

"This spring they shot some footage on the sea ice, right outside my cabin, we had a great time."

Kusugak, who is now in the process of moving to Winnipeg, has also been busy touring both the States and the Yukon to promote his books and visit schools.

"I was in Vancouver visiting the schools. The whole trip went really well. Then I went to Winnipeg where they had a big show at McNaley Robinson -- a giant bookstore. The show was completely packed, 300 people were there for me. It was great really."