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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The year Richard Van Camp spent driving a bus for people with disabilities in Fort Smith taught him a lot about his elders.

They helped him connect to his Tlicho heritage, and now he weaves pieces of elders' stories into his own.

The 36-year-old Vancouver storyteller, writer and professor, born in Fort Smith, didn't prepare a story for the eager crowd prior to stepping onto the Folk on the Rocks cultural stage in Yellowknife last weekend - he never does.

"It's all once I get onstage," he said, after captivating the audience with two tales: one involving cannibalism and another - more kid friendly - story about a baby book.

"That's the story that needed to be told, that wanted to be told," he said, explaining storytelling is largely about feeling out the audience and paying attention to people's reactions.

Van Camp said his words have the power to change people's lives - he recalled a man, who after listening to one of his stories, told the storyteller he would give his marriage another chance.

Van Camp said it's humbling to know how deeply he can affect people through his storytelling.

"Storytelling is always a dance of trust because storytellers are healers," he said. "I'm grateful for everything I've been given."

Van Camp has been told by his faithful fans that they see both obvious and hidden themes of devotion in his work.

He is currently writing a novel about "a young man hiding from his gifts."

He said he's not sure how he gets the ideas for most of the stories he tells - how he knows which ones want to be told. He said that's a question he'll be pondering for years to come.

But he knows why he's writing that novel.

"I think we're all fearful of our inheritance," he said.

Van Camp has written several poems, short stories, novellas, radio documentaries and children's books, with strong emphasis on Aboriginal life. His first novel, The Lesser Blessed, is currently being made into a movie.

For 10 years, he's been teaching creative writing with an Aboriginal focus at the University of British Columbia.

No matter how far from home he goes, he said he's always inspired by Northern life and other Northern storytellers.

"When I'm in Smith I reconnect with Edna Beaver and Irene Sanderson," he said, mentioning two of the town's storytellers.

And when he's home with his family, he's not the only storyteller under the roof.

"I mostly listen," he laughed. "Storytellers are listeners first."