Ivan Coyote
Ivan Coyote is a writer and storyteller. Born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, they are the author of twelve books, the creator of four films, six stage shows, and three albums that combine storytelling with music. Coyote’s books have won the ReLit Award, been named a Stonewall Honour Book, been longlisted for Canada Reads, and been shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Prize for non-fiction. In 2017 Ivan was given an honorary Doctor of Laws from Simon Fraser University for their writing and activism. They have toured public schools solo around the world for 17 years now, using the power of a personal story to fight bullying and make schools safer for students, staff and parents. In 2019 Ivan marked 25 years on the road as an international touring storyteller and musician, and released their twelfth book, Rebent Sinner, with Arsenal Pulp Press. Coyote’s stories grapple with the complex and intensely personal topics of gender identity, family, class, and queer liberation, but always with a generous heart, and a quick wit. Ivan’s stories manage to handle both the hilarious and the historical with reverence and compassion, and remind us all of our own fallible and imperfect humanity, while at the same time inspiring us to change the world. Ivan was awarded the Freedom to Read Award for 2020 by the Writer’s Union of Canada, in recognition of work that is passionately supportive of the freedom to read and free expression.
“From pronoun choice and queer visibility to gendered spaces like bathrooms, Coyote showcases the complexity of everyday experience…On all these topics, the expression is careful, deeply considered and suffused with compassion.”
-Bret Josef Grubisic, Vancouver Sun
“There is a courageous vulnerability in Coyote’s writing, in which they offer up their own stories in the hope of fostering connections and overcoming prejudice…The book is hilarious, heart-breaking, uplifting. It is, in other words, profoundly human.”
-Michelle Deines, Understorey Magazine
“Coyote ought to be recognized as one of Canada’s great humorists, although often the stories are the laughing-through-tears variety. A lot of grit and a lot of heart.”
-Jade Colbert, Globe and Mail