First story chosen for Labrador Inuk Book project
Author always wanted to write children's stories, drawing on Labrador memories
This holiday season is in the bag, but already the people from Inuk Book are planning ahead to next year's gift-giving and the publication of its first children's story in Inuktitut and English.
It almost seemed like something out of a storybook already.- Samantha Jacque, author
The project is aimed at creating more Inuktitut-language resources, and the first story will be about the Christmas drop — a day, once upon a time, when presents parachuted down to parts of Labrador from the sky.
"It seemed so magical," Samantha Jacque, Postville resident and author of the winning submission, told CBC's Labrador Morning.
"It almost seemed like something out of a storybook already."
Christmas at Nutak
She described Christmas at Nutak as story about a young girl and the excitement she experiences knowing it's the day planes pass overhead with gifts.
Her inspiration, Jacque said, came from other people's memories including those of Inuit elder Nellie Winters.
Whatever comes of it, it's going to be a beautiful, beautiful book.- Jodie Lane, Nunatsiavut education manager
"Everyone used to be excited and running all over the place," Winters recalled.
"We were too close to one of the boxes that hit the side of the snowbank and busted the orange juice and some of the orange juice went over us."
That memory, Jacque said, made it into her story.
'Beautiful, beautiful book'
"It's going to be a beautiful, beautiful book," said Jodie Lane, education manager with the Nunatsiavut government and one of the people working on the Inuk Book project.
Lane said Jacque's story will have an English and Inuktitut version, and the book will also include a first-hand Inuktitut-language telling of Winters' memories.
In total, the project will publish 10 books.
A call will soon go out for illustrators.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
