Arctic Song

Germaine Arnattaujuq is an award-winning Inuit artist and illustrator, best known for her prints and etchings depicting Inuit myths and traditional ways of life. In 1999, she designed the special edition two-dollar coin commemorating the founding of the territory of Nunavut. She is the co-author, with Gyu Oh, of My Name Is Arnaktauyok: The Life and Art of Germaine Arnaktauyok, and she has illustrated numerous books. Germaine is the recipient of the 2021 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. She lives in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.Neil Christopher is an educator, author, and filmmaker. He first moved to the North many years ago to help start a high school program in Resolute Bay, Nunavut. It was those students who first introduced Neil to the mythical inhabitants from Inuit traditional stories. Together with his colleague, Louise Flaherty, and his brother, Danny Christopher, Neil started a small publishing company in Nunavut called Inhabit Media Inc., and has since been working to promote Northern stories and authors.

"This book combines simple retellings of traditional Inuit stories with the exquisite artwork of acclaimed artist Germaine Arnattaujuq (also includes a foreword by the artist about her work illustrating Inuit myths and legends)."—The Globe and Mail

• Table of Contents2 Foreword10 Pinngurniq: In the Beginning13 In the Beginning There Was Only Darkness14 The Origin of Day and Night17 The Origin of Death20 Giants of the Earth23 The Polar Bear Hunt That Marked the Sky27 The Northern Lights28 Surainiit: The Crimes That Shaped the Northern Skies31 The Origin of the Sun and Moon 33 The Giant Orphan in the Sky37 The Man of the Moon38 The Orphans in the Sky42 Nirjutit Papattijingat: Those that Created the Animals45 The Mother of the Sea Mammals47 The Spirit that Released Caribou in the World53 The Blind Boy and the Loon54 Epilogue 56 The Earth Birthed Children59 The Tuniit62 Contributors64 Glossary of Inuktitut Words