Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Jun 16/00) - Author Richard Van Camp speaks with great enthusiasm about the people he meets and the places he writes about.

Van Camp was in Inuvik recently -- one of many stops on an NWT tour -- to read from a collection of 18 stories about 10 First Nations people as they were told to him by those he met through his travels.

The work is not for sale.

"This is a medicine bundle of hope here," he said. "Everywhere I go, I give it away on disk to students, libraries or anyone who'd like to read it."

The Fort Smith native has published the highly acclaimed The Lesser Blessed, numerous poems, novellas and short stories and two children's books -- A Man Called Raven and What's the Most Beautiful Thing About Horses?

He worked as a script consultant on CBC's North of 60 and aired a radio drama called Mermaids.

He's been away from the North for the past few years while teaching English at Heiltsuk College in Bella Bella, B.C. -- his fiancee's home town.

Always up for a new challenge, Van Camp has moved away from the traditional with his latest project, The Gift.

"I'm working on a graphic novel right now," Van Camp said. "There's no super heros, it's very realistic. More of an illustrated novel."

The wildly popular genre is a combination of words and illustrations, which will have a wider appeal to people who may not otherwise read books, said Van Camp. The manuscript has been largely roughed out, but an illustrator to partner his words has not been chosen, he said.

"With our children's books we found George Littlechild, and no one can capture the spirit of a story like he can," Van Camp said. "We need a new illustrator for the graphic novel, because we need someone who works in black and white."

The idea came to him perusing the shelves of a comic book store.

"I've been collecting comics since I was seven," he said.

"I don't do it so much anymore, because it's so much harder now for me to find artwork and a story line that I really like and that's why I want to write this."

The new work is a bit of a departure, as he said the process of writing and touring nearly burned him out.

"I lost my way after The Lesser Blessed and the two children's books came out," Van Camp said.

"We put out three books in three years and I found it exhausting. Promotion doesn't leave a lot of time for anything else."

Touring the North has rejuvenated the young author and he feels he's about to set out on his best work to date.

"For me to be able to come back to the territories is incredible," he said. "It's actually renewing my spirit -- I feel a lot stronger now, than when I got off that plane on May 17."

"So now I'm back on track and I'm hunting the story ... and it's hunting me," he said.

Van Camp is also working on five new children's books, a collection of short stories and novellas.

He's getting married July 1, and going back to school September 2001, to study for his master's degree at the University of British Columbia.