A good place to start, for children's literature anyway, is the Aboriginal authors & illustrators page curated by the University of Saskatchewan library. And if you are in Toronto, check out the AMAZING Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books.
In terms of printed book collections, a couple of my favourites sources to check out would be (in no particular order):
- Edith Fowke's Folklore of Canada (1976) and Folktales of French Canada (1979)
- George Arsenault's Acadian Legends, Folktales and Songs (2002)
- A Kayak Full of Ghosts, Lawrence Millman (2003)
- Little Jack and other Newfoundland Folktales (2002), available through Memorial University's Department of Folklore
- Helen Creighton. Bluenose Ghosts. (1957)
If you like audio collections, check out the StorySave project by Storytellers of Canada - Conteurs du Canada, a very important project working to preserve the voices of storytelling elders from a wide variety of Canadian communities, everything from Chinese stories and stories in Irish, to tales from the Omushkigo and Kainai people.
Heritage NL undertook a project called "Tales from Afar: Old Stories from New Residents" which you can download for free!
Heritage NL undertook a project called "Tales from Afar: Old Stories from New Residents" which you can download for free!
And, because I love Newfoundland folklore so much, every folklorist/storyteller/book lover needs to own Peg Bearskin, printed by the fabulous Running The Goat Books and Broadsides. Tell Marnie I sent you!
This list is pretty Atlantic coast heavy, and I'm sure there a lot more resources out there specific to Francophone and Indigenous communities. Comments and suggestions welcome!
And if you are in the mood to listen to a Canadian folktale, sit back with a cup of tea and let my favourite storyteller Alice Lannon tell you the story of Open, Open, Green House.
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