Dry lips oughta move to Kapuskasing

Tomson Highway is an internationally renowned Nehiyawak (Cree) writer and musician. He is the son of legendary caribou hunter and world championship dogsled racer, Joe Highway, and a registered member of the Barren Lands First Nation. He holds a Bachelor of Music Honours (1975) and the equivalent of a Bachelor of Arts (1976) from Western University. Subsequently, for seven years, he worked in the field of Native social work on reserves and in urban centres across Ontario and Canada. In 1981, at the age of 30, Highway started writing music, plays, and, later, novels. He is best known for his plays, The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, both of which won him the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Floyd S. Chalmers Award. He also has the distinction of being the librettist of the first Cree language opera, The Journey or Pimooteewin. From 1986 to 1992, he was Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts, Toronto's only (at the time) professional Native theatre company, out of which, over the years, have emerged some of Canada's most accomplished and celebrated Native theatre and film artists, as well as other professional Native theatre companies. He is the recipient of numerous awards, and holds ten honorary doctorates, including from Carleton University (Ottawa) and the University of Toronto.