INUVIK
Although her story is fictional, author Erin Soros is in Inuvik seeking out cultural uniqueness to contribute to her character, Charlie.

Author Erin Soros is in Inuvik speaking to elders and community members to build an understanding of Inuvialuit culture for her first novel. - Elaine Anselmi/NNSL photo

"I want to make sure I have the history right," said Soros. "Anything to do with history and culture, I want to make sure I have it right."

Based on the father of her own father's best friend, Charlie is of Scottish and Inuvialuit descent and comes from the region.

With funding from Cambridge University in England, where Soros is a writer-in-residence, she is spending a month in Inuvik and then plans to return in the summertime to research the character and his cultural background.

"It's impossible to understand a culture in a month, even though I am returning in the summer," said Soros. "But, when he describes his past to Eva, I want there to be unique qualities to here."

The novel takes place in a logging camp in Powell River, B.C., where Eva is the lone female in a camp full of men. The book is titled Hook Tender, after one of the positions on the logging crew.

"It was this interesting microcosm because of the immigrants, the indigenous peoples, as well as the Japanese interments in the 1940s," said Soros. "It looks at the way the community was built through co-operation and conflict."

Eva, a character based on Soros' grandmother, has a stillbirth while in the camp.

Charlie helps her recover both mentally and physically - compassion and kindness are characteristics Soros said she has seen a great deal of since arriving in Inuvik two weeks ago.

"I was told here that the people need to be represented as honest. When I represent the character Charlie, even though he's witty and irreverent, he has to be honest," she said. "You have to respect the protocols of the culture."

As well as researching at the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre, Soros has been speaking with local people and elders in particular, since Charlie's character was born before the town of Inuvik existed.

Her understanding of logging culture comes largely through growing up surrounded by the industry, in a family that was very much a part of it.

Conducting interviews toward the novel up to 15 years ago, Soros has been piecing the book together in stages. As well as her own family and family friends, Soros has spoken to members of the Sliammon First Nation of Powell River to depict the relationship between the different groups that come to work at the camp.

Sections of Soros' novel have been performed over the radio on both the CBC, where it was awarded the literary fiction Short Story Award, and on the BBC, where it was named a finalist for the Commonwealth Literary Prize.

"It's all written in short pieces and put together, like a mosaic," Soros said.

She has held writer-in-residence positions at various universities and colleges in the United States and England. As part of her current residency, Soros will be giving talks at the university on her travels, as well as at libraries in Vancouver where she said she plans to highlight her experiences while in the North, encouraging others to visit.

"It feels like each day has been so packed with new experiences," she said.

While in Inuvik, Soros plans to host writing workshops for youth and adults, potentially in the high school or at the Youth Centre.

With a few weeks left of her stay in Inuvik, Soros said she hopes to meet with many more storytellers. Her goal, she said, is to have her manuscript complete one year from now and ensuring that the cultural representation is accurate is one of her top priorities.