Overview

In academic circles, Thomas King is perhaps best known for his novels. Beyond such circles, however, he is arguably among the most media savvy of his generation of Indigenous writers; he has been particularly successful in writing across the media for popular audiences. For the better part of five seasons (1997–2000; 2006) King co-wrote and co-starred (along with Edna Rain and Floyd Favel) in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio One's Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour, a fifteen-minute morning radio segment produced by Kathleen Flaherty (see the contributions by Floyd Favel and producer Kathleen Flaherty in part 4 of this volume). And while the political satire and humor of Dead Dog may be most prominent in radio listeners' memories, since 1993 King has written over twenty-five other radio, for-television, and feature film scripts, including award-winning selections and nominations at the Toronto Independent Film Festival (Best Short, 2010); the Golden Sheaf Awards/Yorkton Short Film Awards (Nominee, Best Aboriginal Short Film, 2008); the American Indian Film Festival (Nominee, Best Live Action Short, 2008); the Aboriginal Film Festival Awards (Nominee, 2007); and the Dreamspeakers Festival (Nominee, Best Drama over 30 Minutes, 1997). Several of these screenplays have been adapted from King's own novels, stories, and essays for feature-length or short films, some already produced (I'm Not the Indian You Had in Mind, 2007, which King also directed; Medicine River, Best Screenplay, American Indian Film Festival, San Francisco, 1994), and others still in development (Green Grass, Running Water).