Cree author Harold R. Johnson reflects on life, death and the quest for stories
CBC News | February 04, 2022
Categories: news
'That quest for story has given me so much'
CBC Radio · Posted: Feb 04, 2022 2:32 PM ET | Last Updated: February 4
Harold R. Johnson has been many things. The son of a Cree mother and a Swedish father, both trappers, Johnson has been a logger, trapper and miner. He did a stint in the Royal Canadian Navy. He studied law and did an MA at Harvard Law School, where on top of his studies, he wrote his first novel, Billy Tinker. He also was in private practice as a lawyer before becoming a crown prosecutor.
But he has always been a writer. He was writing when he was four, but didn't publish until he was in his 40s. The floodgates opened with 11 books published including the dystopian novel Corvus, nonfiction books Cry Wolf and Peace and Good Order and the memoir Clifford.
In 2021, he released The Björkan Sagas, a book set in an enchanted world of heroic storytellers that weaves history, fantasy and myth.
Johnson has been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer and reflected on his life and career with Shelagh Rogers.
Looking back
"What a ride, what a glorious ride that was! If you go far enough back, there's a little eight-year-old boy who lost his dad and was forced to go on welfare. I was this half-breed from northern Saskatchewan — nothing was expected from me except that I fail.
I was this half-breed from northern Saskatchewan — nothing was expected from me except that I fail.
"Good or bad academia changed me — so much so I went to Harvard — and that was really good. Harvard said, 'Here in all our wealth, have the best experience you can."
First novel
"I wrote Billy Tinker more as a lark. I was just having fun and it turned into something. It wouldn't have been written if it wasn't for this writing group I was in with a couple other Canadians.
"The best thing about the group is we never criticized each other. We just said good things no matter what — and it really worked.
"I showed up to the first meeting and I had a first chapter of Billy Tinker. And by the end of the year, I'd written the book. I remember early on, the group seemed to recognize that there's more to my writing than what they were bringing.
The best thing about the group is we never criticized each other. We just said, good things no matter what, and it really worked.
"My buddy Chris who worked at Harvard Library wanted all my notes. He put them together and bound them. He created a piece of art and presented it to me on my last day that we were meeting as a writing group.
And he said, 'Harold, you take this and you send this to a publisher when you get home. They'll see that it's a real book. They'll speak about it as a real book when they make their decision.' And it worked."
Those left behind
"What matters most to me now is just to be. Just being. Right now. Being present. Hearing the kids outside. Just not sad anymore. No sadness, no regrets; absolutely no regrets— none.
There's too many beautiful people I'm going to leave behind. There's sadness that I can't be with you guys.
"No sadness, but I don't know if I can say happiness. There's too many beautiful people I'm going to leave behind. There's sadness that I can't be with you guys."
Finding peace
"I'm at peace. But peace is at various levels. I have not found nirvana but I'm doing pretty damn good for an old trapper.
"What I miss now is I'm not home. And as I go toward the exit, I want my family here. I want to go up there on a visit — and that's not going to happen.
"That's the way it used to be done. You died at home with your family. I was at one of those for my brother, with everybody there.
As I go toward the exit I want my family here. I want to go up there on a visit and that's not going to happen.
"The Elder sat down between me and my brother. She showed us how to come and experience someone's death with and keep them company.
"She visited and told tiny, little inconsequential stories that just made you smile a little bit. "
One story at a time
"There's a book I was going to write about this and I couldn't think my way through. I contacted some friends and talked about ways of writing that helped me get past that. After I got all of their input, I decided the way to do this is the way you always do it — tell stories.
"So break this big chunk of stuff that's all connected and interconnected this system out into their own individual story and tell one story at a time.
That quest for story has given me so much. And now I understand everything is story.
"That quest for story has given me so much. And now I understand everything is story. Everything is story. You just tell stories."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
