{{Short description|Canadian children's writer (1907–2002)}} {{Refimprove|date=December 2009}} {{Infobox writer | name = Christie Harris | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1907|11|21}} | birth_place= Newark, New Jersey, U.S.<ref name=tomfolio/> | death_date = {{death date and age|2002|01|05|1907|11|21}} | death_place= Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | nationality= Canadian | occupation = Writer | period = 1957–1994 <!-- span of known publication dates --> | genre = Children's literature | subject = }} '''Christie Lucy Harris''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CM}} (November 21, 1907 – January 5, 2002)<ref name="Woodcock"/> was a Canadian children's writer. She is best known for her portrayal of Haida First Nations culture in the 1966 novel ''Raven's Cry.''<ref name=ing/>

==Biography== Harris was born in Newark, New Jersey, November 21, 1907, and moved to British Columbia, Canada, with her family as a child.<ref name=tomfolio/>

She was led to investigate Northwest Coast cultures after moving to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, in 1958 and writing a series of CBC dramas on First Nations topics.<ref name="Woodcock" /> She received a Canada Council grant to work with the Haida artist Bill Reid in researching the life and context of the great Haida carver Charles Edenshaw. In this she worked closely with Wilson Duff and, in Masset, B.C., with Edenshaw's daughter Florence Davidson.

Her 1975 book ''Sky Man on the Totem Pole?'' applies the "ancient astronaut" theories of Erich von Däniken to Northwest Coast oral histories.

In 1980, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada.<ref name=gg/> In 1973, she was awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award.

Three months after her death, the Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize was announced as a new BC Book Prize category.<ref name=tomfolio/>

Harris and illustrator Douglas Tait created at least eight books published from 1972 to 1982. One is ''The Trouble with Princesses'' (1980), which "retells stories about Northwest Coast princesses and compares them with similar Old World princesses".<ref>according to one library catalogue record, {{OCLC|9085067}}. Retrieved 2015-09-10.</ref> For that collaboration she won the annual CCCLP prize for English-language writing (now the Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature)<ref name=ogwc-CCe>[http://www.track0.com/ogwc/resources/awardscancouncil.html "Canada Council Children's Literature Awards"] [English-language books]. ''online guide to writing in canada'' (track0.com/ogwc). Retrieved 2015-09-10.</ref> and he won the CLA award for children's book illustration, the 1981 Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award.<ref>[http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Amelia_Frances_Howard_Gibbon_Illustrator_s_Award&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=2505 "Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706073554/http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Amelia_Frances_Howard_Gibbon_Illustrator_s_Award&Template=%2FCM%2FContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=2505 |date=2015-07-06 }} [list of winners]. ''Book Awards''. CLA. Retrieved 2015-09-10.</ref>

Harris won the annual Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award both in 1967 for ''The Raven's Cry'' and in 1977 for ''Mouse Woman and the Vanished Princesses''<ref name=winners-c>[http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Book_of_the_Year_for_Children_Award&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=2501 "Book of the Year for Children Award"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722223919/http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?ContentID=2501&Section=Book_of_the_Year_for_Children_Award&Template=%2FCM%2FContentDisplay.cfm |date=2015-07-22 }} [winners]. ''Book Awards''. Canadian Library Association (cla.org). Retrieved 2015-09-10.</ref> (another collaboration with Tait).

==Works==

* ''Cariboo Trail'' (Longmans, 1957), adventure stories, {{OCLC|1815057}} * ''Once Upon a Totem'' (Atheneum Books, 1963), stories, woodcuts by John Frazer Mills, {{OCLC|333217}} * ''You Have to Draw the Line Somewhere'' (1964), illustrated by Moira Johnston * ''West with the White Chiefs'' (1965), woodcuts by Walter Ferro – "based on the [1865] journal of Viscount Milton and Dr. Cheadle", {{OCLC|25435114}} * ''Raven's Cry'' (1966), Haida folklore, ill. Bill Reid * ''Confessions of a Toe-Hanger'' (1967), ill. Moira Johnston * ''Forbidden Frontier'' (1968), novel, ill. E. Carey Kenney * ''Let X Be Excitement'' (1969), novel * ''Figleafing Through History: The Dynamics of Dress'' (1971), written by Harris and Johnston, ill. Johnston * ''Secret in the Stlalakum Wild'' (1972), novel, illustrated by Douglas Tait, {{LCCN|72175554}} * ''Mule Lib'' (McClelland & Stewart, 1972), by Tom and Christie Harris, ill. Franklin Arbuckle – "subjects: World War, 1914-1918 — Personal narratives, Canadian", {{OCLC|3791852}} * ''Once More Upon a Totem'' (1973), stories, ill. Tait * ''Sky Man on the Totem Pole?'' (1975), stories, ill. Tait * ''Mouse Woman and the Vanished Princesses'' (1976), stories, ill. Tait * ''Mouse Woman and the Mischief-makers'' (1977), stories, ill. Tait <!-- Atheneum Books, 1977 maybe not first --> * ''Mystery at the edge of two worlds'' (1978), novel, ill. Lou Crockett, {{OCLC|15854658}} * ''Mouse Woman and the Muddle-heads'' (1979), stories, ill. Tait * ''The Trouble with Princesses'' (1980), stories, ill. Tait – "retells stories about Northwest Coast princesses and compares them with similar Old World princesses", {{OCLC|9085067}} * ''The Trouble with Adventurers'' (1982), stories, ill. Tait – "Northwest Coast Indian legends and myths about adventurers", {{OCLC|15917058}} <!-- 2015-07-28 per LCCatalogue records all eight collaborations are "1st ed.", Atheneum Books, between 100 and 200 pages, more than 1200pp in all --> * ''Something Weird Is Going On'' (Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers, 1994), detective and mystery stories, {{OCLC|31286515}}

==References== {{Reflist|30em |refs=

<ref name=gg>{{cite web |url=http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=725 |title=Order of Canada – Christie Harris, C.M. |work=Honours |publisher=Governor General of Canada (gg.ca) |accessdate=16 June 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515215745/http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=725 |archivedate=15 May 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> <ref name=ing>{{cite web |url=http://hpcanpub.mcmaster.ca/case-study/publishing-children-mcclelland-amp-stewart039s-long-legacy |title=Publishing for Children: McClelland & Stewart's Long Legacy |last=Ing |first=Tiffanie |work=Historical Perspectives on Canadian Publishing |publisher=McMaster University (hpcanpub.mcmaster.ca) |accessdate=16 June 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327032536/http://hpcanpub.mcmaster.ca/case-study/publishing-children-mcclelland-amp-stewart039s-long-legacy |archivedate=27 March 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> <ref name=tomfolio> {{Cite web |title=Christie Harris – The Matriarch of Canadian Children's Authors |work=Information on Authors |publisher=TomFolio.com |url=http://www.tomfolio.com/AuthorInfo/authors/ChristieHarris.asp |accessdate=25 January 2011 }} <br>&nbsp; "This content has been provided by AnEyeForBooks." – linked 28 July 2015 to a page hosted by TomFolio for The Old Bookshelf of Kintyre, Scotland (theoldbookshelf.com).</ref> <ref name=Woodcock> {{cite web |url=http://www.georgewoodcock.com/christieharris.html |title=[Christie Harris] |year=1998 |work=Winners – George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award |publisher=georgewoodcock.com |accessdate=16 June 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711085217/http://www.georgewoodcock.com/christieharris.html |archivedate=11 July 2011 |url-status=dead }} <br>&nbsp; Evidently the Woodcock Award content is archived and continued at BC Book Awards (bcbookawards.ca): [http://bcbookawards.ca/george-woodcock/winners/christie-harris "Christie Harris 1998"]. Retrieved 2015-07-28.</ref>

}}

==External links== {{Portal |Children's literature}} * {{isfdb name|148594}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Christie}} Category:1907 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Canadian children's writers Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:People from Prince Rupert, British Columbia Category:Place of birth missing Category:American emigrants to Canada