CHERIE DIMALINE
Writer
I found Cherie Dimaline when I was looking for songwriters. She had written some good recomendations for songs. When I looked a bit more into her, I saw that she was a writer. I also saw on her facebook page that she was launching a book called a gentle habit. I messaged her with my standard Indian Act questions, and congragulated her on her new release. I found one of older books (red rooms) at the downtown library, and then put a hold on her newest book (a gentle habit).
A gentle habit came in today. It is a collection of short stories. I read the first one (called The Bead fairy) and it was incredible. I love the way that Dimaline writes. The Bead Fairy is about a girl at this elementary school. A lot of kids collect beads from a gravel pit. They sometimes wonder how the beads get there. One theory is that there is a beautiful fairy that comes and plants them every night. At this school there is also a fat girl named Rachel whose dad committed suicide and who always gets bullied. At the end of the story the narrator finds out that Rachel is the one who distributes the beads. This summary does not convey the way the story was written. It made me pause and wonder what Dimaline was trying to say. Maybe sometimes the fairy is the most overlooked person. Could First Nations be bead fairies?
Cherie Dimaline never answered my questions. But I found this cool quote she said when she was explaining what she does when she has writers block: "I try to remember what its all about in the end; the story that must be told, that refuses to lay quiet, that tears the night to shreds with images and words that links arms and block your path to sleep."
