Profile of Tomson Highway on Famous Like Me

Tomson Highway, CM (born December 6, 1951) is a Cree playwright, novelist, and children's author from Brochet, Manitoba. He is the celebrated author of the plays The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, both of which won him the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Floyd S. Chalmers Award. The Rez Sisters became a smash hit across Canada and went on to the Edinburgh International Festival in 1988.

Highway has also published a novel, Kiss of the Fur Queen (1998), which is based on the events that led to his brother René Highway’s death of AIDS.

He is the cousin of actor/playwight Billy Merasty. He was artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto. He obtained his B.A. in Music in 1975 and his B.A. in English in 1977, both from the University of Western Ontario. Highway holds three honarary degrees and in 1994 became a member of the Order of Canada.

In 2000, Maclean's named him one of the 100 most important people in Canadian history. Cree is his first language.

Plays

• A Ridiculous Spectacle in One Act - 1985
• New Song...New Dance - 1986
• Aria - 1987
• The Rez Sisters - 1988 (nominated for a Governor General's Award), (won Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best New Play)
• Annie and the Old One - 1989
• Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing - 1989 (nominated for a Governor General's Award), (won 4 Dora Mavor Moore Award including Best New Play), (won Floyd S. Chalmers Award)
• The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito - 1991
• Rose - 2000

Novels

• Kiss of the Fur Queen - 1998 (shortlisted for the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Canadian Booksellers' Association Fiction Book of the Year Award)

Children's books

• Cariboo Song - 2001 (selected as one of "Top 10 Children’s Books" by Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail)
• Dragonfly Kites - 2002

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