What inspired you to write your memoir?
I didn’t set out to be an author: it just happened as a consequence of keeping a journal that my daughter gave me when I went to live in a remote community in Canada’s Northwest Territories in 2001 with a small band of First Nations people. I initially wrote in it out of a sense of obligation, and then I got into the habit of writing every night before bed, and I’m glad I did, because there were so many new, wonderful, humorous and exciting experiences to capture. When that journal was full, I continued writing in note books and on whatever paper I could find.
When I left the north two years later, I went to live in a self-catering cottage in Cahuita, Costa Rica for a month to transcribe the journals into Microsoft Word and to rework the texts into more of a story, which I called “White Man on the Land.” At the time, I was writing the story strictly for my children with no thought of commercial publication. My story began when I landed in Lutsel K’e, the Chipewyan name of the aboriginal hamlet where I went to live, and ended when I got on the plane to leave. And as I rewrote and rewrote a very strange thing happened: I began to see how and why I had changed over that two year period.
The essence of the story is about how cultural and climatic challenges and exposure had caused a paradigm shift in how I viewed myself and the world: the metamorphosis of a hard core financial type into a people-caring person, who just wanted to go on and use his skills and experience to help others less fortunate. Friends and family read the draft and commented that they felt it had wide commercial appeal, but readers would want to know more about who the guy was who went to Lutsel’K’e and what he did when he left the community. The resulting biography, which took eight years to complete, spans sixty years: from childhood in the UK to volunteering in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
About your Book:
“Awakening in the Northwest Territories” is a humorous, intriguing and thought provoking memoir of the unusual life of Alastair Henry. Although the story spans sixty years: growing up in England, emigrating to Canada by himself at 19 etc., the core of the biography takes place in the Northwest Territories, when the author was sixty years old.
Discontented with the passivity of an early retirement, the author went to live and work for two years with a small native band (300 people) in a remote location in Canada’s far north, in search of adventure and a deeper meaning to life. Cultural differences and a challenging environment caused a paradigm shift in his spirituality and life philosophy. When he left the north, he changed his life’s direction and went to less developed countries in Asia and Africa sharing his skills and experience to help improve the lives of those less fortunate.
How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
I decided to self-publish because I did not want to wait for years trying to snag the interest of a traditional publisher and then wait for their schedule of publishing. I used Friesen Free Press out of BC Canada to produce my book, get ISBN numbers and upload it to various on-line book sites.
How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
Writing a memoir is a very different process than writing other genres of books because your memory and not your imagination is at the heart of your writing. You still need imagination to embellish the memories and bring them to life for your readers, but the essence of your writing is the truth.
Author Bio:
I was a financial corporate type who followed the plan and took an early retirement, but within a year, the thought, “Is this it. Is this all there is?” was rolling around in my head.
I came out of retirement to live and work with a small First Nations band of Chipewyans in a remote location in Canada’s far north in search of adventure and a deeper meaning to life. The experience was life changing and resulted in a paradigm shift in my spirituality, philosophy and aspirations for the future.
What began as a compilation of my N.W.T. journals for my direct family became a memoir: “Awakening in the Northwest Territories” spanning sixty years. It covers childhood in England, emigration to Canada by myself at 19, etc., but the core of the story takes place over a two year period in the N.W.T. It is an engrossing, thought provoking read, full of humor, intrigue and adventure with richly detailed accounts of the dene culture and their traditions, life-views and challenges.
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https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7171907.Alastair_Henry
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