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Bill Reid's The Raven Steals the Light

Broadcast Date: Dec. 26, 1999

In 1984, documentary-maker Barbara Nichol taped her friend Bill Reid narrating his collection of stories The Raven Steals the Light. Nichol tucked them away in her apartment and forgot about them for years. She rediscovered the missing tapes shortly after Reid's death and now they are being aired on CBC Radio's Sunday Showcase. In this excerpt, Reid tells the tale of Owasko and the three killer whales. Teeming with dark humour, the Owasko fable revolves around transformation, magic and the desire to be appreciated.

Bill Reid's The Raven Steals the Light

• Bill Reid and Robert Bringhurst published The Raven Steals the Light in 1984. The book featured 10 folktales accompanied by Reid's intricate illustrations.
• "I consider myself one of the most fortunate of men, to have lived at a time when some of the old Haidas and their peers among the Northwest Coast peoples were still alive, and to have had the privilege of knowing them." — Bill Reid, in the introduction to The Raven Steals the Light.

• Robert Bringhurst was a longtime friend of Bill Reid and published The Black Canoe: Bill Reid and the Spirit of Haida Gwaii in 1991. Following Reid's death, Bringhurst actively defended Reid's reputation and legacy. In 2004, he told the Globe & Mail: "No 20th century Canadian did more than Reid to breach the wall of misinformation and mutual ignorance that divides the First Nations of this country from its colonial and immigrant populations."

Bill Reid's The Raven Steals the Light

Medium: Radio

Program: Sunday Showcase

Broadcast Date: Dec. 26, 1999

Guest(s):

Speaker: Bill Reid

Duration: 7:58

Last updated:
July 7, 2009