{{Short description|Canadian writer}} '''Wayne Arthurson''' is a Canadian writer and literary agent born in the province of Quebec and living in Edmonton, Alberta.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wayne Arthurson - Éditions Héliotrope |url=https://www.editionsheliotrope.com/auteurs/wayne-arthurson/ |access-date=2026-04-16 |website=www.editionsheliotrope.com |language=fr-FR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wayne Arthurson |url=https://www.therightsfactory.com/Agents/wayne-arthurson |access-date=2026-04-16 |website=The Rights Factory |language=en}}</ref> He is the author of several novels and several books related to First Nations peoples,<ref name="edmontonjournal2019-11-07" /><ref name="quillandquire2018-12-19" /> His parents are of Cree and French Canadian descent. He grew up on an army base.<ref name="cbc2017-05-24" /><ref name="cbc2020-03-27" />
==Career== Since the age of twenty-four, he has lived from his writing, whether as a journalist, freelance writer or novelist. He has published over two hundred articles in magazines and newspapers.<ref>[https://www.writerstrust.com/authors/wayne-arthurson Wayne Arthurson | Writers' Trust of Canada]</ref> He developed his skills during his time working as a security guard, as told to CBC Radio,<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thenextchapter/david-alexander-robertson-iskw%C3%A9-linda-granfield-1.4047311/how-wayne-arthurson-started-writing-novels-1.4047328 How Wayne Arthurson started writing novels | CBC Radio]</ref> He echos the pitfalls of what is labelled as Native American mystery novels: thrillers written by non-Indegenous perpetrating stereotypes such as the stoic warrior, the corrupted Chief, or the wise elder, thus creating a false sense of authenticity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blick |first=William |date=March 2025 |title=Mary Stoecklein. ''Indigenous Investigations: Native American Mystery Writing'' |url=https://doi.org/10.3366/cfs.2025.0142 |journal=Crime Fiction Studies |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=128–130 |doi=10.3366/cfs.2025.0142 |issn=2517-7982|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>Diversity in crime writing: Wayne Arthurson on how white voices overwhelm Indigenous crime fiction</ref>
Arthurson's first novel, ''Final Season'', published in 2002, is set in a First Nations community that faces profound environmental change, due to a new hydroelectric project.<ref name="theglobeandmail2003-01-04" />
Arthurson has two mystery series. One with the recurring hero Leo Desroches, a metis journalist, who has had his own run-ins with the law<ref name="cbc2017-05-24" /><ref name="RachelHaliburton" />: ''Fall from Grace'' published in 2011, ''A Killing Winter'' published in 2012, and ''Blood Red Summer'' published in 2016. They were followed by the second series featuring Sergeant Neumann: ''The Traitors of Camp 133'' in 2016 and ''Dishonour in Camp 133'' in 2019, set in a POW camp for captured Germans, in Alberta.<ref name="cbc2017-05-24" /> ''The Red Chesterfield'', published in 2019, features ''"M"'', a by-law enforcement officer,<ref name="cbc2020-03-27" /> threading not so carefully amidst family members ''"J"'' and ''"K"''.
He is translated in French by [https://www.alire.com/Auteurs/Arthurson.html Alire] and [https://www.editionsheliotrope.com/auteurs/wayne-arthurson/ Héliotrope].
In October 2021, he joined The Rights Factory as a literary agent.<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/TheRightsFactory/posts/the-rights-factory-is-thrilled-to-announce-that-wayne-arthurson-has-joined-us-as/4573184549387766/ The Rights Factory is thrilled to... - The Rights Factory | Facebook]</ref>
==Awards and honors== Arthurson won the Alberta Readers' Choice Award in 2012 with his first novel ''Fall From Grace''. He won the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in May 2020 (formerly the Arthur Ellis Award) for best crime novella with The Red Chesterfield.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to 2023-24 Writer-in-Residence Wayne Arthurson |url=https://www.ualberta.ca/en/english-film-studies/efsnews/2023/august/welcome-to-2023-24-writer-in-residence-wayne-arthurson.html |access-date=2026-04-16 |website=www.ualberta.ca |language=en}}</ref> He was also shortlisted twice for the High Plains Book Awards in the Best Indigenous Writer category.
==Bibliography== * {{cite book | url = | title = The Red Chesterfield | publisher = University of Calgary Press | author = Wayne Arthurson | year = 2019 | isbn = 9781773850771 }} * {{cite book | url = | title = Dishonour in Camp 133 | publisher = Turnstone Press | author = Wayne Arthurson | year = 2019 | isbn = 9780888016218 }} * Wayne Arthurson (2016). ''Traitors of Camp 133''. Ravenstone. {{ISBN|978-0-88801-587-7}} * {{cite book | url = | title = Blood Red Summer | publisher = Eschia Books | author = Wayne Arthurson | year = 2016 | isbn = 9781926696270 }} * {{cite book | url = | title = Fall from Grace | publisher = self-published | author = Wayne Arthurson | year = 2015 | isbn = 9781515143406 }} * {{cite book | url = | title = Alberta's Weekly Newspapers | publisher = Folklore Pub. | author = Wayne Arthurson | year = 2012 | isbn = 9781926677804 }} * {{cite book | url = | title = A Killing Winter | publisher = Macmillan | author = Wayne Arthurson | year = 2012 | isbn = 9781429924603 }} * {{cite book | url = | title = Spirit Animals | publisher = Eschia Books | author = Wayne Arthurson | year = 2012 | isbn = 9781926696218 }} * {{cite book | url = | title = In the Shadow of Our Ancestors: The Inventions and Genius of the First Peoples | publisher = Eschia Books | author = Wayne Arthurson | year = 2010 | isbn = 9781926696133 }} * {{cite book | url = | title = Final Season | publisher = Thistledown Press | author = Wayne Arthurson | year = 2002 | isbn = 9781894345484 }}
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=quillandquire2018-12-19> {{cite news | url = https://quillandquire.com/omni/diversity-in-crime-writing-wayne-arthurson-on-how-white-voices-overwhelm-indigenous-crime-fiction/ | title = Diversity in crime writing: Wayne Arthurson on how white voices overwhelm Indigenous crime fiction | work = Quill & Quire | author = Wayne Arthurson | date = 2018-12-19 | archiveurl = | archivedate = | accessdate = 2020-04-13 | quote = The Stoic Warrior, the Uncanny Tracker, the Magic Indian, the Comic Relief Indian, the Wise Elder, the Savage Indian, the Badass Native, the Environmental Activist, the Corrupt Chief – these broad portrayals take up a lot of character space in these novels. }} </ref>
<ref name=cbc2017-05-24> {{cite news | url = https://www.cbc.ca/books/blood-red-summer-1.4129558 | title = Blood Red Summer: Wayne Arthurson | work = CBC Books | author = Candy Palmater | date = 2017-05-24 | archiveurl = | archivedate = | accessdate = 2020-04-14 | quote = }} </ref>
<ref name=theglobeandmail2003-01-04> {{cite news | url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/keeping-despair-at-bay/article747994/ | title = Keeping despair at bay | work = The Globe and Mail | author = Jim Bartley | date = 2003-01-04 | archiveurl = | archivedate = | accessdate = 2020-04-14 | quote = In Edmonton writer Wayne Arthurson's debut novel, the lakeside village of Grand Rapids, Manitoba, becomes the forlorn hub of a native fishing community negotiating the shocks of a massive hydro-electric project. }} </ref>
<ref name=RachelHaliburton> {{cite news | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WtJKDwAAQBAJ&dq=Leo+Desroches&pg=PA100 | title = The Ethical Detective: Moral Philosophy and Detective Fiction | author = Rachel Haliburton | publisher = Lexington Books | year = 2018 | pages = 87, 99, 102, 103, 130 | location = | isbn = 9781498536813 | archiveurl = | archivedate = | accessdate = 2020-04-14 | quote = }} </ref>
<ref name=cbc2020-03-27> {{cite news | url = https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thenextchapter/full-episode-march-28-2020-1.5512034/wayne-arthurson-plays-with-the-mystery-genre-and-magic-in-his-novel-the-red-chesterfield-1.5512055 | title = Wayne Arthurson plays with the mystery genre and magic in his novel The Red Chesterfield | work = CBC Radio | author = Shelagh Rogers | date = 2020-03-27 | archiveurl = | archivedate = | accessdate = 2020-04-14 | quote = In his latest, The Red Chesterfield, he purposefully subverts the mystery form with a story that has clues that lead nowhere and motivations that are deliberately ambiguous. }} </ref>
<ref name=edmontonjournal2019-11-07> {{cite news | url = https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/books/three-to-see-thursday-arthurson-launch-rainbow-visions-opens-and-hideout-dance-party/ | title = Three to See Thursday: Arthurson launch, Rainbow Visions opens and Hideout dance party | work = Edmonton Journal | author = Fish Griwkowsky | date = 2019-11-07 | page = | location = | isbn = | language = | trans-title = | archiveurl = | archivedate = | accessdate = 2020-04-13 | quote = Prolific Edmonton author Wayne Arthurson launches his latest, a crime novel, family drama and fable all at once. }} </ref> }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arthurson, Wayne}} Category:Writers from Alberta Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Canadian people of Cree descent