Christie Lucy Harris, (November 21, 1907 – January 5, 2002) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

children's writer. She is best known for her portrayal of Haida First Nations culture in the 1966 novel '' Raven's Cry.''

Biography

Harris was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, November 21, 1907, and moved to British Columbia, Canada, with her family as a child. She was led to investigate Northwest Coast cultures after moving to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, in 1958 and writing a series of CBC dramas on First Nations topics. She received a

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...

grant to work with the Haida artist Bill Reid in researching the life and context of the great Haida carver Charles Edenshaw. In this she worked closely with Wilson Duff and, in Masset, B.C., with Edenshaw's daughter Florence Davidson. Her 1975 book ''Sky Man on the Totem Pole?'' applies the " ancient astronaut" theories of Erich von Däniken to Northwest Coast oral histories. In 1980, she was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. In 1973, she was awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award. Three months after her death, the Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize was announced as a new BC Book Prize category. Harris and illustrator Douglas Tait created at least eight books published from 1972 to 1982. One is ''The Trouble with Princesses'' (1980), which "retells stories about Northwest Coast princesses and compares them with similar Old World princesses". For that collaboration she won the annual CCCLP prize for English-language writing (now the

Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature The Governor General's Award for English-language children's writing is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a children's book written in English. It is one of four children's book awards among the Governor Ge ...

)"Canada Council Children's Literature Awards"
nglish-language books ''online guide to writing in canada'' (track0.com/ogwc). Retrieved 2015-09-10. and he won the CLA award for children's book illustration, the 1981

Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award The Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award was presented annually by the Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne des bibliothèques (CLA) to an outstanding illustrator of a new Canadian children's book.

."Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award"
ist of winners ''Book Awards''. CLA. Retrieved 2015-09-10. Harris won the annual Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award both in 1967 for ''The Raven's Cry'' and in 1977 for ''Mouse Woman and the Vanished Princesses''"Book of the Year for Children Award"
inners ''Book Awards''. Canadian Library Association (cla.org). Retrieved 2015-09-10. (another collaboration with Tait).

Works

* ''Cariboo Trail'' ( Longmans, 1957), adventure stories, * ''Once Upon a Totem'' ( Atheneum Books, 1963), stories, woodcuts by John Frazer Mills, * ''You Have to Draw the Line Somewhere'' (1964), illustrated by Moira Johnston * ''West with the White Chiefs'' (1965), woodcuts by Walter Ferro – "based on the 865journal of

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and Dr. Cheadle", * ''Raven's Cry'' (1966), Haida folklore, ill. Bill Reid * ''Confessions of a Toe-Hanger'' (1967), ill. Moira Johnston * ''Forbidden Frontier'' (1968), novel, ill. E. Carey Kenney * ''Let X Be Excitement'' (1969), novel * ''Figleafing Through History: The Dynamics of Dress'' (1971), written by Harris and Johnston, ill. Johnston * ''Secret in the Stlalakum Wild'' (1972), novel, illustrated by Douglas Tait, * ''Mule Lib'' ( McClelland & Stewart, 1972), by Tom and Christie Harris, ill. Franklin Arbuckle – "subjects: World War, 1914-1918 — Personal narratives, Canadian", * ''Once More Upon a Totem'' (1973), stories, ill. Tait * ''Sky Man on the Totem Pole?'' (1975), stories, ill. Tait * ''Mouse Woman and the Vanished Princesses'' (1976), stories, ill. Tait * ''Mouse Woman and the Mischief-makers'' (1977), stories, ill. Tait * ''Mystery at the edge of two worlds'' (1978), novel, ill. Lou Crockett, * ''Mouse Woman and the Muddle-heads'' (1979), stories, ill. Tait * ''The Trouble with Princesses'' (1980), stories, ill. Tait – "retells stories about Northwest Coast princesses and compares them with similar Old World princesses", * ''The Trouble with Adventurers'' (1982), stories, ill. Tait – "Northwest Coast Indian legends and myths about adventurers", * ''Something Weird Is Going On'' (Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers, 1994), detective and mystery stories,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Christie 1907 births 2002 deaths Canadian children's writers Members of the Order of Canada People from Prince Rupert, British Columbia Place of birth missing American emigrants to Canada