Tomson Highway Fundraising Concert brought to you by RBC – IN PERSON – ONLINE

Canadian icon Tomson Highway performs an evening of music and storytelling with charm and wit in support of the Glooscap First Nation. This year’s opening night hosts returns to Devour! for a second night with an intimate concert at Devour! Studios exploring his life as an iconic, Governor General award-winning playwright, author, musician, and raconteur.

Sponsored by: Royal Bank of Canada

Tomson Highway

Tomson Highway was born in a snowbank on the Manitoba/Nunavut border to a family of nomadic caribou hunters. He was raised off-reserve, in the spectacularly beautiful natural landscape that is Canada’s subarctic. He had the great privilege of growing up in two languages, neither of which were French or English; but Cree, his mother tongue, and Dene, the language of the neighbouring nation—a people with whom they roamed and hunted. 

Following an education where he earned both a Bachelor of Music and the equivalent of a Bachelor of Arts with an English major, he spent seven years immersed in the field of Native social work. He then combined his education and training, and poured himself into writing. 

Today, Tomson enjoys an international career as playwright, novelist, pianist, composer, and songwriter. Tomson is best known for universal hits such as The Rez Sisters, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Rose, Ernestine Shuswap Gets her Trout, and the best-selling novel Kiss of the Fur Queen. He has also published a number of children’s books, namely Caribou Song, Dragon Fly Kites, and Fox on the Ice. His work has been translated into 11 languages. 

For many years, Tomson was Artistic Director of Canada’s premiere aboriginal theatre company, Toronto-based Native Earth Performing Arts, from which has emerged an entire generation of playwrights and theatre artists. 

Tomson is the recipient of 10  honorary doctorates and is a member of the Order of Canada. His awards and nominations include Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Governor General’s Literary Award, Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award, Toronto Arts Award, and National Aboriginal Achievement Award. 

Fluent in Cree, French, and English, he continues to write, teach, lecture, and perform across Canada and around the world.