SOURCE: "Let Us Now Combine Mythologies: The Theatrical Art of Tomson Highway," in Border Crossings, Vol. 1, No. 4, December, 1992, pp. 22-7.

In the interview below, Highway discusses his upbringing, Native literature, mythology, and the structure of his plays.

[Enright]: You were born on a trap line 176 miles north of Lynn Lake in the upper reaches of Manitoba. What was that experience like?

[Highway]: Back in the early '50s it was very basic. There were 12 in my family and most of us were born in tents and we lived in tents almost year 'round. In the summer time we travelled by canoe and in the winter time we travelled by dog sled. We lived a very nomadic life; my father trapped in the winter and fished in the summer and hunted in between. It was an exquisite lifestyle.

A dozen children! Your family was almost its own tribe.

Yes...