Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Fiction Literary

Lesser Blessed

by (author) Richard Van Camp

Publisher
Douglas & McIntyre
Initial publish date
Sep 1996
Category
Literary, Native American Studies
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781550545258
    Publish Date
    Sep 1996
    List Price
    $18.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781926685847
    Publish Date
    Sep 2008
    List Price
    $12.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

A powerful coming-of-age story -- edgy, stark, and at times, darkly funny that centers around Larry, a Native teenager trying to cope with a painful past and find his place in a confusing and stressful modern world.

 

Larry is a Dogrib Indian growing up in the small northern town of Fort Simmer. His tongue, his hallucinations and his fantasies are hotter than the centre of the sun. At sixteen, he loves Iron Maiden, the North and Juliet Hope, the high school ìtramp.î

 

In this powerful and very funny first novel, Richard Van Camp gives us one of the most original teenage characters in Canadian fiction. Skinny as spaghetti, nervy and self-deprecating, Larry is an appealing mixture of bravado and vulnerability. His past holds many terrors: an abusive father, blackouts from sniffing gasoline, an accident that killed several of his cousins, and he's now being hunted and haunted by a pack of blue monkeys. But through his new friendship with Johnny, a Metis who just moved to town, he's now ready to face his memoriesóand his future.

 

The Lesser Blessed is an eye-opening depiction of what it is to be a young Dogrib man in the age of AIDS, disillusionment with Catholicism and a growing world consciousness.

About the author

Richard Van Camp is a proud member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation from Fort Smith, NWT.He is a graduate of the En'owkin International School of Writing, the University of Victoria's Creative Writing BFA Program, and the Master's Degree in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. He is an internationally renowned storyteller and best-selling author. His novel, The Lesser Blessed, is now a movie with First Generation Films and premiered in September of 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival. He is the author of four collections of short stories, Angel Wing Splash Pattern, The Moon of Letting Go, Godless but Loyal to Heaven and Night Moves, as well as two children's books with Cree artist, George Littlechild: A Man Called Raven and What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses?His first baby book, Welcome Song for Baby: A Lullaby for Newborns, was the official selection of the Books for BC Babies program and was given to every newborn baby in British Columbia in 2008. Richard followed this up with another board book: Nighty-Night: A Bedtime Song for Babies. His third book for babies, Little You, is now out with Orca Book Publishers. The amazing Julie Flett is the artist. Little You is published in Bush Cree, Dene and South Slavey, courtesy of the South Slave Divisional Board of Education. His new book for babies with Julie Flett is called "We Sang You Home" and it is gorgeous!All of Richard Van Camp's children's books are available in Braille for free, anywhere in the world, courtesy of the Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI) and Accessible Resource Centre-British Columbia (ARC-BC)Richard has six graphic novels and comic books out: his first comic book on deterring youth away from gangs, Path of the Warrior, is published with Cree artist, Steve Sanderson, through the Healthy Aboriginal Network. His second comic book on sexual health is Kiss Me Deadly, with Haida artist Chris Auchter. His four graphic novels are Three Feathers (published in Bush Cree, Dene, South Slavey and English, illustrated by Krystal Mateus, on restorative justice; The Eisner Award Nominated A Blanket of Butterflies, on the theme of peace making, illustrated by Scott Henderson, The Blue Raven, illustrated by Steve Sanderson on mental health, and Spirit, a suicide prevention comic book illustrated by Emily Brown (which is also published in Bush Cree, Dene, and South Slavey and English).

Richard Van Camp's profile page

Other titles by

Beast

A Novel

by (author) Richard Van Camp

Burning Cold

An Inuit and Dene Comics Collection

by (author) Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley & Richard Van Camp

As I Enfold You in Petals

by (author) Richard Van Camp
illustrated by Scott B. Henderson
colorist Donovan Yaciuk
letterer Nickolej Villiger

A Blanket of Butterflies

by (author) Richard Van Camp
illustrated by Scott B. Henderson, Donovan Yaciuk & Nickolej Villiger

Little You / Gidagaashiinh

by (author) Richard Van Camp
illustrated by Julie Flett
translated by Angela Mesic & Margaret Noodin

Det’oni-t’á tai / Three Feathers

by (author) Richard Van Camp
illustrated by K. Mateus
translated by Doris Camsell

Tout petit toi

by (author) Richard Van Camp
illustrated by Julie Flett
translated by Rachel Martinez

Tú eres tú

by (author) Richard Van Camp
illustrated by Julie Flett
translated by Lawrence Schimel

Love Beyond Body, Space and Time

an Indigenous LGBT Sci-fi Anthology

by (author) Richard Van Camp, Cherie Dimaline, David Alexander Robertson, Daniel Heath Justice, Gwen Benaway, Mari Kurisato, Nathan Adler, Cleo Keahna & Darcie Little Badger
edited by Hope Nicholson
cover design or artwork by Jeffrey Veregge

This Place

150 Years Retold

by (author) Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Sonny Assu, Brandon Mitchell, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, David A. Robertson, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Richard Van Camp, Katherena Vermette & Chelsea Vowel
illustrated by Jen Storm, Tara Audibert, Kyle Charles, G.M.B. Chomichuk, Natasha Donovan, Scott B. Henderson, Andrew Lodwick, Scott A. Ford, Donovan Yaciuk & Ryan Howe
foreword by Alicia Elliott

Related lists