This tale of surviving an Arctic winter, true to the ecology and mythology of the North, is told by the creatures who live there. The story opens when Gon, the old raven and the main storyteller, happens upon a potential meal: a young fox caught in a leg-hold trap. But the fox chews off his own front paw, escapes, and ends up forming an unlikely friendship with a wolf Who has been wounded by a ferocious flying beast with huge black feet (an aircraft).

Together they set off to find the Great Trudger (the polar bear), and during their joyous and terrible adventure they meet other denizens of the Arctic - birds, hares, walruses, caribou, musk oxen - all of whom tell their own stories in their own words as winter unfolds in the frozen North. The old raven, who will ultimately know every one of them, watches over them as touchstone, storyteller, mythmaker.

The Raven's Tale is based on C. W. Nicol's extensive work in the Arctic and his lifetime dedication to wildlife conservation.

In addition to being a bestseller in Japan, the book was translated into Inuktitut for 1993 publication.

C.W. Nicol, born in Wales and educated in England, first visited the Arctic in 1958 to research eider ducks for McGill University. By 1965 he was spending seven months a year in the North as a marine mammal technician for the Arctic Biological Station, and studying karate in Japan (he holds a black belt, fifth dan rank). Nicol was the first game warden at the Simian Mountain National Park in Ethiopia; an Environmental Emergency Officer at the Environmental Protection Service in Vancouver; and a member of the Minister of Environment's committee on environment and culture in Japan. He travels regularly throughout Japan and abroad, giving lectures on environmental and cultural topics. Nicol has also conceived, written and acted in numerous TV documentaries, filmed in Zaire, Mongolia, the Canadian Arctic, New Zealand, Wales, Scotland, England, Australia and Japan. He has served as a committee member for the Kaiko Takeshi Literary Prize, and in 1980 he won the Japan Broadcasting Writer's Award for a television drama written in Japanese. He is the author of many articles, essays, translations, novels and books for young people, including Harpoon and The White Shaman. Nicol lives in Japan with his wife and two daughters.

C.W. Nicol's profile page

Germaine Arnaktauyok is an Inuit artist and illustrator, best known for her prints and etchings depicting Inuit myths and traditional ways of life. In 1999, she designed the special edition two-dollar coin commemorating the founding of the territory of Nunavut. She is the co-author, with Gyu Oh, of My Name is Arnaktauyok: The Life and Art of Germaine Arnaktauyok. She lives in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.

Germaine Arnaktauyok's profile page