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Author: carlnordgren

Oct 21, 2014
in Book News, West of Ireland
by carlnordgren
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An Excerpt from Novel 3: The Cliffs of Moher

Early in the third novel in 'The River of Lakes Trilogy' Brian travels with his teenage daughter, Grace O'Malley Burke, to Ireland, to visit his home village of Cong. They are traveling with two of Grace O'Malley's girlfriends, two Ojibway girls from Joe Loon's clan, Annie Fobister and Louise Keewatin, who have never been outside their world on the River. Maureen, Grace's mother, was not able to accompany them on this trip. They stood beneath O’Brien’s Tower at the Cliffs of Moher, Brian nearest the edge, Grace next to him, Annie and Louise a step back and holding hands, all standing past the signs that established the safe boundary. The winds were...

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Oct 10, 2014
in Ojibway Chief Stories, True Guide Stories
by carlnordgren
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Tales from an Ojibway Chief: n’Gosh

Having just submitted 'Worlds Between', the second novel in The River of Lakes trilogy, for publication in the Spring, I am focusing now on the third novel. My working title for this book has been n'Gosh', which is the name Steve Fobister gave me when we worked together as teenage boys, for it isn't until this third novel, set in 1969, that a character loosely based on me shows up. This character's name, by the way, is Guy Greene. And Guy immediately falls in love with the daughter of Brian and Maureen Burke, who they named Grace O'Malley Burke. First he saw her hair. It was long and black, wild and wavy. And then he saw her eyes, her...

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Sep 29, 2014
in Book News
by carlnordgren
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Worlds Between submitted

This morning I put on my Ernest Hemingway T-shirt that one of my daughters gave me a few years back, I read the last chapter of Worlds Between one more time, made two changes, and just submitted it to my publisher, Light Messages. I thought it was done a week or so ago, when I shared the first chapter of the book here with you, but then I read it again and understood it needed a new final chapter, one that completes this book and sets up some key plot points in the third. I wore my Hemingway T-shirt eleven months ago when I sent the publisher my first novel, The 53rd Parallel. I have had a life long...

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Sep 15, 2014
in Ojibway Chief Stories
by carlnordgren
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Tales from an Ojibway Chief: Planning a Visit to See Steve Fobister

Steve Fobister and I have a wonderful and very unusual relationship. He is a strong presence in my life, yet we rarely see each other these days, and we can go years without even talking. His phone service on Grassy Narrows Reserve is not too reliable and doesn't include voice mail, so I can call and call and not get through. But I have been trying extra hard these past few months to get him on the phone because I want to visit him, to bring a box of books as soon as Anung's Journey is published. I am always able to find his work reported on in the media, including his recent hunger strike. ...

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Sep 07, 2014
in Book News
by carlnordgren
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The First Chapter of ‘World’s Between’

You asked for it. Well, sort of. I asked you to ask for it. And someone did, a couple of you did, fans of 'The 53rd Parallel', and I'm easy and quite pleased with what is happening in the first chapter of the second book of The River of Lakes Trilogy, so here. And then I thought, why not share the first half of the second chapter as well. The plan now is to publish 'World's Between' in the Spring of 2015. I hope you enjoy it. ...

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Sep 02, 2014
in Book News
by carlnordgren
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Launching Anung at St. Ignace History Week

It was such a great pleasure being able to launch Anung's Journey from the heart of Ojibwa lands, especially during such an exciting time as St. Ignace's History Week. I made drums with an Ojibway elder, learned about the traditional dances, saw traditional regalia, and enjoyed some delicious delicacies like maple candy and roast duck. Judy Bonello from the Museum of Ojibwa Culture was gracious enough to take some pictures of the festivities, and I am excited to share them with you here! Brant and his father Keith Knecht, me, and Francie Wyers and her son Matt. I couldn't make out the name of the shelter style, reed mats and birch bark sheets, very portable, very authentic Matt Wyers, in...

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Aug 27, 2014
in Book News
by carlnordgren
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Launching Anung at the Center of the Ojibwa Universe

Thank you all. Thank you Shirley, the Director of the Museum of Ojibwa Culture, for inviting me to tell my stories during History Week, and thank you for being such a gracious hostess, and thank you for your enthusiasm for Anung's Journey. And thank you for introducing me to so many wonderful people. Thank you Tony Grodin, an elder in the Ojibwa community, for teaching me how to make a drum, and thank you for the wonderful story about how the Dakota who first envisioned the drum, Tailfeather Woman, shared it with the Ojibwa people. Thank you Joanne Carey, an elder in the Odawa community, for the wonderful vest you gave me, and thank you for your presence as we...

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Aug 12, 2014
in West of Ireland
by carlnordgren
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The IRA and the Nazis

In the Fall of 2001 secret service files were published by the British Public Record Office that revealed a plot by the IRA to collaborate with the Nazis to invade Northern Ireland during the Second World War. A key story line in The 53rd Parallel is built around this little known historical fact. The files included MI5 records about a German spy parachuting into Ireland in 1940 to assess the feasibility of the plan after being approached by the IRA. The plan was foiled after the spy, Dr Hermann Goertz, aka "K", was arrested a year later by the Irish government. The MI5 report, written in 1943, read: "On the 5th May 1940 Goertz landed by parachute at Ballivor, Co...

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Aug 04, 2014
in Ojibway Chief Stories
by carlnordgren
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Tales from an Ojibway Chief: Truth to Power

I had just finished the post below about Steve Fobister when I found out about his recent hunger strike. Read about it first here. There are hereditary Chiefs in the Ojibway clan system who tend to come from the Crane and Loon clans. There are elected Chiefs as well, and Steve Fobister was the youngest man to be elected Chief of Grassy Narrows First Nation Reserve on the English River in the 1970's. Steve was elected because he boldly spoke truth to power when it was discovered that the Dryden Pulp and Paper Company had been dumping mercury into the English River, that the methyl-mercury had been biomagnified as it always will be, and that the walleye the Ojibway relied on...

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Jul 28, 2014
in Book News
by carlnordgren
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Anung at the Museum of Ojibwa Culture: Shirley Sorrell

As the planning continues for the launch of Anung's Journey at the Museum of Ojibwa Culture on August 21st and 22nd, I have gotten to know Shirley Sorrell, the Museum's Director. This woman is a delightful force for good in the world and I am lucky to have met her. She has been the Director of the Museum for 13 years and the scope of new indoor and outdoor exhibits that have been added is impressive and it's fun listening to her talk about what's to come. Right now they are building a new Huron longhouse and creating a documentary of the construction, capturing a demonstration of the old ways. New wigwams are being added to the Ojibwa village. Shirley recently helped a PhD...

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I want to thank all the folks who have been so important to my writing. My wife, Marie, and my three daughters, Sarah Rose, Brita, and Krista Anne. Steve Fobister. Elizabeth Turnbull. Robin Metz. Kevin Qian. And my father, Loran Nordgren.

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