Gift to create comes from spirit world, author

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Sitting at a pricey, antique wood table on the ground floor of the elegant Nicholas Hoare Bookstore on Front Street in Toronto, Al Hunter is early for his first book launch. Besides a few patrons skimming pages or sticking their noses into their interesting reads, the shop is deserted.

"Maybe I should have been fashionably late," he joked.

Hunter is Anishinaabe and from Manitou Rapids, Rainy River First Nation. He's here to promote his first book of poetry called Spirit Horses, published by Kegedone Press. Some of the poems in the collection date back five years and are dedicated to friends that Hunter met while going to school, working, and, in his words, "wandering around" the U.S. and Canada.

Earlier in the day, he attended a meeting to negotiate a land claim for his First Nation. He is one of its negotiators who will help settle the claim that has been outstanding since 1982.

In March of last year, he was named an Anishinaabe achiever of the Treaty 3 nations for his work in education and for the environment. A few months after being honored with the award, he and his wife led a Walk to Remember, a 1,200 mile journey around Lake Superior. Organized to raise awareness for the environment, Hunter would be the first to tell you that the blisters picked up along the way were well worth it if they aid in protecting the air, land and water for future generations. But of the many hats he wears, he still prefers to spend his days with pen in hand, filling paper with words.

"First and foremost, I consider myself a writer," he said. "For me, as a person, it's something that I do, that I need to do, and that I want to do. I believe that artists, especially Indigenous artists, really feel the gift of being able to write and create comes from the spirit world."

Hunter's book, Spirit Horses, may be ordered online at www.kegedonce.com, or by contacting Kegedonce Press at (519) 534-5107.