I come from the lands of lichen and moss. Lands of gold and destruction. Of skidoos, ice fishing, smoked salmon slick with its oils, campfire stories about little people and how time stood still, a place where eyelashes stick together like a mascara of ice, and air makes your face hurt like tiny botox needles, we don’t get the immediate smooth skin but once the rash heals, we get a waxy finish— same, same.
There is something really special about the Land I come from, something that is unexplainable. The Yukon always calls for me.
Chantal Rondeau
Writer•Journalist•Filmmaker
Chantal Rondeau is a Sun Valley Writer’s Conference fellow; the inaugural Tin House/Carol Shields Scholar and she holds an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is a Porches Fellow and has received support from Fine Arts Work Center IAIA Scholarship. In an article on LitHub, Marie-Helene Bertino states Chantal’s manuscript is “stunning” and said that she’s “never seen a more beautiful or resonant way of literally representing inter-generational trauma (and tenderness) on the page.” Chantal ultimately hopes to tell stories that shift perceptions and lead to a global understanding of the modern-day Indigenous people.
The manuscript "White Ash Falling" is set in the Yukon Territory, its Spirit as alive as the three Northern Tutchone women who time-travel through their dreams. The manuscript is currently up for agent representation.
