Brenda Fontaine, a recently retired teacher who taught in The Pas, Cross Lake, and Norway House Cree Nation, who is now a writer, released her newest book Tyranny in our Times at the Thompson Public Library on March. 20.
Dorene Meyer, an author of 11 novels, also read during the book launch. Meyer is the reason Fontaine started writing. “Brenda was all ready to go, she just needed someone to tap her on the shoulders and say go. As soon as I started teaching the course she had articles, short stories, poems, and books. She’s a very good author from the start,” Meyer said.
Fontaine took three of Meyer’s writing classes, which she held in Norway House, and says writing to her is just like breathing. “I started writing as soon as I could put some words together in school. I had a love for words, so it’s just natural to write.”
In Fontaine’s newly released book, Kate Wasko, a Cree woman is experiencing a hard time fitting into her community of Roberston Lake. Wasko experiences discrimination. “In Tyranny in Our Times, the tyranny of rejection is shown through people who are outcasts of their community-and the unborn, who are outcasts of the womb,” explained Fontaine.
The northern writer has written three children’s books, and four novels, many holding Christian themes within them. “Most of my books have a Christian theme because I believe in God. I want to give Him the glory for the themes that have happened in my life. I’ve put some of those stories in here in the characters. I give things I’ve experienced to my characters.”
Many of Fontaine’s publications are through GoldRock Press, a publishing company Meyer started.
Both authors read parts of their novels in front of a crowd at the library, and thanked them for joining and offering the space.
The books can be found at the local library, or through GoldRock Press.
