John Firth has been announced as the Yukon’s new Story Laureate by Commissioner Anne Webber
The Yukon’s new Story Laureate is John Firth, as announced in January by Commissioner Anne Webber. Over the next two years, Firth will act as a representative for the territory’s literary arts, storytelling and literacy, focusing on the past, present and future.
“I was quite thrilled and quite pleased,” Firth said of hearing the news himself. “And, of course, you’re always surprised when something like that happens. I think every writer hopes to achieve something in their lifetime and to become a Laureate. You have to have a long history of working in that field, as much as you have a product to show for it.”
Firth is a lifelong Yukoner and is known as a writer for many contributions to the community. Among his published works are The Caribou Hotel: Hauntings, hospitality, a hunter and the parrot; One Mush: Jamaica’s Dogsled Team; Yukon Sport: An Illustrated Encyclopedia; River Time: Racing the Ghosts of the Klondike Rush; Better Than A Cure: One Man’s Journey to Free the World of Polio (Ramesh Ferris with John Firth); and Yukon Quest: The 1000-mile Dog Sled Race Through the Yukon and Alaska.
“I think it’s possibly the angle I took on writing about Yukon history,” Firth said, discussing why he thinks he was selected as Story Laureate. “Rather than relying on research and that I picked events I had some personal involvement in. There was a lot of personal experience: that was the direction I took in writing Yukon history, and it’s a little different than a lot of the other Yukon history writers.”
As for what first sparked his interest in writing about Yukon history, Firth said it’s in his genes.
“There’s no single incident or anything that gets you interested in something like history,” Firth explained. “I learned how to become a reader from a very young age and I found history was interesting to read about; and so, when I started to write, it just seemed to make sense to me that history was part of what I wanted to do. It just so happened I was fortunate enough to sometimes be in the position where I could be on the ground to see history being made.”
Firth was chosen as Story Laureate by an independent selection jury consisting of members of the literary arts community. The position of Story Laureate of Yukon was first established in 2021 and is a two-year commitment. As Story Laureate, Firth will attend Yukon events to publicly share works while also creating work focused on cultural, historical and heritage themes relevant to Yukoners.
“The whole thing about being a Story Laureate, in my mind, is that it’s not only the specific events and duties that come with the position, but, to me, being a Story Laureate bears with it the responsibility to tell the story of the importance of literacy,” Firth said. “It’s not just storytelling; literacy is also a part of the job description, to be an ambassador or an advocate for it. It’s a responsibility to tell the story of the literary arts, and that’s not just writing books. Anybody that writes, like songwriters, poets, fiction writers—all of those people that write in those different genres are part of the literary arts.”
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