Arctic stories michael kusugak biography
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Michael Kusugak
Michael KusugakMichael Kusugak
Speaker
Keynote Speeches
A Promise is a Promise
Michael Kusugak is a natural storyteller who has an easy rapport with audiences. He uses personal anecdotes of living in the Canadian Arctic and incorporates traditional spirit creatures into his stories to draw out lessons for modern life. His manner and stories will expand understanding of the Inuit beyond stereotypes of igloos, nose-rubbing, and whale blubber.
Inuit Stories
Michael Kusugak’s own story is equally as fascinating as those he takes pen to paper. He grew up living in igloos, sod huts, and tents. He traveled by dog team following the caribou or living on the sea ice so that his family could hunt seals, whales, walrus, and catch fish to eat. In this captivating presentation, Michael weaves traditional stories passed down from his elders with his life stories.
Residential Schools
Michael spent many years in several resi
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Michael Kusugak
Michael Kusugak grew up in Repulse Bay, NWT (now Nunavut). During his childhood, his family travelled by dog sled, living a traditional Inuit lifestyle. He fryst vatten the author of twelve children's books, including: The Littlest Sled Dog, The Curse of the Shaman, T fryst vatten for Territories, Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails, winner of the Ruth Schwartz Award; Hide and Seek; My Arctic 1, 2, 3; and Baseball fladdermöss for Christmas; and was co-writer of A Promise Is a Promise (with Robert Munsch). Michael Kusugak lives in Sooke BC, and spends most summers in his cabin in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. Michael is listed on the National Speakers Bureau. Click here read his full bio and learn more about Michael…
Michael Kusugak Awarded with The Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature
The Writers’ Trust of Canada has awarded Michael Kusugak with The Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature in Toronto l
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Michael Kusugak
Canadian Inuk children's writer and storyteller
Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak (Inuktitut: ᐊᕐᕚᕐᓗᒃ ᑯᓱᒐᖅ) is a Canadian Inuk storyteller and children's writer, who tells stories about Arctic and Inuit culture. He was born April 27, 1948, just north of Chesterfield Inlet, at a point of land called Qatiktalik (known as Cape Fullterton in English). That same spring of 1948, he and his family moved to Repulse Bay and in 1960 to Rankin Inlet. As of 2022, he lives in Manitoba, near Lake Winnipeg.[1]
In 1954, a plane arrived and at the age of six, Michael Kusugak and many of his friends were sent away to residential school. The teachers were strict and did not allow the children to speak their own language, Inuktitut. Kusugak remembers sitting in the back of the class crying most of the time. The following year, Michael successfully hid when the plane came to take him and his friends away again. However, he returned the following year and became one of the first I