Small Tales in Two Tongues
by Devon Lee
Devon Lee�s collection of short stories take place on the small island Igloolik, and span over five generations of Inuit life. In what is being hailed by critics as the first book of its kind and a breakthrough in Canadian fiction, all eleven stories have been written by the author in a dual language format: in both the Inuit and the English languages. These short stories cover topics such as coming of age, the struggles people face living in a remote and impoverished community, and the impact of media and technology on the Inuit lifestyle.
Devon Lee lives in Toronto and is a professor at the University of Toronto. This is his first novel, and was written over a nine year period, six of which Lee and his wife Heather spent living on the island Igloolik.
�Ranks as one of the great books in Native history. Never have we seen such a true portrayal of Inuit life, not to mention such great writing as from first-timer Devon Lee.�
(Thomas King)
�A great first collection of short stories. We will likely see more astonishing work from Lee in the near future.�
(Globe and Mail)
Excerpt from Small Tales in Two Tongues
�From the day that Sally turned three years old, she would sit on the front porch of her house, which was even falling apart then. She loved to sit and watch the sun set; it was her favourite time of day. And every time it was getting to her the most beautiful part, where the pink, yellow, and orange would mix together (to form what Sally thought looked like rainbow sherbet), her father would storm out of the house, rifle in one hand, and a beer in the other, and shoot at the empty beer bottles that were sitting pretty on the fence. And every time he did it, Sally would hate him even more.�
0-90210-28-4
$14.95 (Can), $11.95 (US)
Fiction, (softcover) 150mm x 180mm
343 pp