The Story Behind the Story with Author Kathleen Lippa of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

 

Looking for a terrific book?

 

Kathleen’s new book is receiving rave reviews. 

The  five stars are piling up.

She has kindly accepted our invitation to tell you about it.

 

Hello readers. I’m Kathleen Lippa, a Canadian journalist, and brand-new author of a true-crime book published by independent, Canadian publisher Dundurn Press. I grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and obtained a B.A. in English from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 1998 before embarking on a career as a newspaper reporter and editor. I’m married to Arctic historian and author Kenn Harper, and we divide our time between Ottawa and St. John’s.

 

 

Title: Arctic Predator: The Crimes of Edward Horne Against Children in Canada’s North

 

Synopsis: In the 1970s, a young schoolteacher from British Columbia was becoming the darling of the Northwest Territories education department with his dynamic teaching style. He was learning to speak the local language, Inuktitut, something few outsiders did. He also claimed to be Indigenous — a claim that would later prove to be false. In truth, Edward Horne was a pedophile who sexually abused his male students.

From 1971 to 1985 his predations on Inuit boys would disrupt life in the communities where he worked — towns of close-knit families that would suffer the intergenerational trauma created by his abuse.

The Story Behind the Story:

I went to the Canadian Arctic to work for the Northern News Services in 2003, and the experience up there changed my life. I had a front-row seat on the creation of a new territory in Canada, Nunavut. I got to travel throughout the Eastern Arctic for my work as a reporter. And while I was spending time in the communities of Nunavut I heard about the crimes of Edward Horne, a compelling schoolteacher who hailed from British Columbia. Horne had won praise from his bosses in the education department of the Northwest Territories at the time, but in truth, in secret, Horne was a pedophile, and abused many children in the North over the 15 years he lived in the Eastern Arctic. The people of the North I met when I was a reporter often spoke of Horne like a mythological figure. A monster. Some wondered what ever became of him. He’d served prison time, but was he now a free man? There was mystery surrounding the Horne tragedy. I wanted to know more. It took me almost 20 years to finish writing the book that is now Arctic Predator. It was the most difficult long-form work of journalism I have ever done. I did it on my own time and using my own money. It was very challenging on every level to get this book out into the world, but most notably, it was emotionally draining - not just for me but the people I interviewed. But ultimately, we all believed it was an important true-crime story to document. And the Canadian public is fascinated – the book is a bestseller in Canada, and I’ve done a number of successful events at independent bookstores.

I wanted to work with a traditional publisher, and preferably Canadian. My manuscript was rejected by 12 different publishers before Dundurn Press in Toronto took it on. I’m very proud that Arctic Predator is printed and bound in Canada, and available across Canada, and internationally.

Website: Please go HERE.

A question before you go, Kathleen:

Scribbler: Where is your favourite spot to write? Are you messy or neat? Your beverage of choice?


Kathleen: I have been working in non-fiction for a long time, in my home office, located just off my kitchen. Home is best for the work I do, although I have always secretly envied people who can write in coffee shops!

The files and books I use for reference tend to pile up and create clutter around my desk. But I know where everything is. I can find necessary files and information rather quickly in those piles, in spite of how bad the clutter may look, and that is something I am rather proud of, to be honest.

I do drink coffee now, although for years I found strong green tea helpful in the mind-energy department. I blend my own mushroom coffee now with lion’s mane powder and real milk. I get to work early, like 5 a.m. every morning, and I find mushroom coffee gives me a warm boost.

An Excerpt from   ARCTIC PREDATOR

TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains descriptions of sexual assault and abuse of children

CAPE DORSET, January 23, 2003

A fire raged in the metal dump, yet no sirens blared. Townsfolk in sealskin and work boots, and women in fur-lined parkas with babies on their backs made their way up the hill to where firefighters had purposely set one of the community’s old school buildings ablaze.

Four hundred people, roughly a third of the community’s population, huddled near the flames, a reprieve from the cold in the minus 20 degrees Celsius temperature. Some people in the crowd were crying. Others picked up rocks and hurled them into the flames, yelling at the disintegrating structure as if it were the living embodiment of a name they shouted — Ed Horne.

Twenty years was a long time to live with the anger. Horne had left their community in 1983, but the emotions his name engendered were still raw.

As the schoolhouse and its secrets burned that night, a young reporter named Christine Kay was at her desk in Iqaluit working the phones. She called hamlet offices in the territory each week, hearing news and gossip that could be spun into features for her newspaper. This was the best a reporter with no travel budget could do. To actually visit a community beyond Iqaluit required an expensive plane ride. The phone was an economical way in. Christine was curious about the fire she was hearing about in Cape Dorset, but could only eke out a small story for News/North that appeared on February 3. The headline was “Piece of Past Up in Flames”. She reported that the burning was part of Cape Dorset’s settlement in a civil lawsuit against the governments of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. The small structure, one of two portable units — free-standing classrooms not attached to the main school — was no longer in use. A year before this symbolic act was carried out, a multi-million-dollar settlement had been made between the two territorial governments, the employers of Ed Horne, and dozens of young men — once boys — who had been sexually abused by the disgraced teacher.

Tuugaaq* initially attended the burning, but left before the building was razed to the ground. 

“I did see people throwing rocks, but I wasn’t compelled to do anything because that wasn’t where I had the experience with Ed Horne. The older one where we first encountered him is still standing,” he said, many years later, explaining that a construction company was currently using that building. “There were two portable schools. The one that was burned down was from later, it was for the younger guys. To me it was like, why don’t they burn the one where it all started?”

Buy it HERE.

Thank you for sharing such a compelling story, Kathleen. I appreciate how difficult it must've been to write. 

I wish you continued success with your writing.

And a GRAND-CANYON-SIZE thank you to all our visitors and readers.