Published fifty years ago under the title Harpoon of the Hunter, Markoosie Patsauq's novel helped establish the genre of Indigenous fiction in Canada. This new English translation unfolds the story of Kamik, a young hero who comes to manhood while on a perilous hunt for a wounded polar bear. In this astonishing tale of a people struggling for survival in a brutal environment, Patsauq describes a life in the Canadian Arctic as one that is reliant on cooperation and vigilance.

In collaboration with the author, Valerie Henitiuk and Marc-Antoine Mahieu return to the original Inuktitut text to provide English readers with a more accurate translation. With a preface by Patsauq and an afterword from the translators, this edition offers a fresh and contextualized interpretation of a cultural milestone.

Whether revisiting this classic or discovering it for the first time, readers will find in Hunter with Harpoon a sophisticated coming-of-age tale illustrating a way of life not as it appeared to southerners, but as it has survived in the memory of the Inuit themselves.

Markoosie Patsauq (1941-2020) was a writer, retired pilot, and community leader. He lived near Inukjuak, Nunavik.

Markoosie Patsauq's profile page

Valerie Henitiuk is the executive director of the Centre for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence, and professor in the Department of English at MacEwan University. Her research focuses primarily on translation studies, world literature, Japanese literature, and women’s writing. She is also editor-in-chief of the journal Translation Studies.

Valerie Henitiuk's profile page

Marc-Antoine Mahieu is professor of Inuktitut at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, Université Sorbonne Paris Cité, and consultant for the Kativik school board in Nunavik.

Marc-Antoine Mahieu's profile page

"Both a pivotal work of Indigenous fiction and an effort to acknowledge and correct injustices, Hunter with Harpoon is a testament to the resilience of the Inuit people." Foreword Reviews

«Uumajursiutik unaatuinnamut priorise l’écrit en inuktitut pour sa valeur en soi et dans ses propres termes. Enfin, la collaboration entre Henitiuk, Mahieu et Patsauq contribue à donner une visibilité à un auteur à la langue riche et vivante et à une culture littéraire proprement inuit.» Anthropologie et Sociétés

“This remarkable scholarly edition, … is renamed as Hunter with Harpoon, and reinstates the Inuktitut version by drawing heavily on the original handwritten story. The editors were also able to work in consultation with the elderly author, allowing them to discuss the production of this book in the context of his long career.” The Northern Review