Tomson Highway OC (born 6 December 1951) is an Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, children's author and musician.
In 1989, he published Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, which was the first Canadian play to receive a full production at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre.
The Rez Sisters depicts seven women of the community planning a trip to the "BIGGEST BINGO IN THE WORLD" in Toronto and features a male trickster, called Nanabush.
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing depicts the men's interest in ice hockey and features a female trickster.
Highway was artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto from 1986 to 1992,[5] as well as De-ba-jeh-mu-jig theatre group in Wikwemikong.
Frustrated with difficulties presented by play production, Highway wrote a novel called Kiss of the Fur Queen.
[5] The novel presents an uncompromising portrait of the sexual abuse of Native children in residential schools and its traumatic consequences.
Kiss of the Fur Queen has won a number of awards and spent several weeks on top of Canadian bestseller lists.
Set in 1910, the play revolves around the visit of the "Big Kahoona of Canada" (then Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier) to the Thompson River Valley.
[12] Highway divides his time between residences in Gatineau, Québec, in France and in Italy with his life partner Raymond Lalonde.