Jeff Green | Aug 07, 2024
Rick Revelle retired from full time work at the age of 50, and since then he has devoted time to playing golf, working part-time, and for the past 15 years, researching indigenous languages and writing novels.
The first four of his novels were a series of adventures set between 1320 and 1350, written in the first person, that provide a fictional account of the lives of Algonquin communities.
“I did a lot of research before starting the series,” Rick said in an interview from his home in Napanee, which be moved to from Glenburnie in 2019. “I went to museums from Newfoundland to Manitoba, I learned what I could about the languages that were spoken at the time, and about the conflicts and alliances. I set it when I did because I wanted to write about a pre-contact world.”
After finishing the first novel, “I am Algonquin”, and shopping it around to publishers, he ended up finding a publisher for it.
“I got lucky, and that was the start of what I all my sweet second carreer writing novels in my 60's.”
The four novels in the series are: I am Algonquin, Algonquin Spring, Algonquin Sunset, and Algonquin Legacy. They are targeted at younger readers.
“They are works of fiction of course, but I wanted to use place names in the original languages, and character names as well, and to make the novels consistent with what we do know about how Indigenous peoples lived on both sides of the Canada- US border,” he said.
The books were published at 2 year intervals in the 2010's and not only did they prove to be popular with readers, educators took note as well. Rick is now a knowledge keeper with the Limestone and Upper Canada School Boards, and spends time in schools making presentations.
Rick was born and raised in the Odessa area. His father was killed when he was 8 months old and when his mother remarried, she took the last name of her new husband, and Rick's last name was changed from Cota to Revelle when he was 13.
Through his father, he is related to the Cota family in the Sharbot Lake area, and his grandmother is a Cox from Coxvale, on the Ardoch Road.
“It was only when I was in my 30's, that I realised that I had indigenous roots on both sides of my family. The Cota side is Algonquin and my great grandmother was Mi'kmaq from New Brunswick. We kept that all quiet, even among ourselves, but my cousin Art Cota, he was always open about it.
Rick Revell is a member of the Ardoch Algonqin First Nation, from the Cota family.
As he finished the forth book in his series, he was ready to move on in his fiction, and began exploring a new series, this time with female protagonists. And while the Elk Whistle Warrior Society is about a secret society that was founded at the same time period as the Algonquin Series, it extends into the modern day, giving Rick the opportunity to use explore current issues.
“The Elk Whistle Warrior Society is made up entirely of women, all well placed, who hunt down and kill off human traffickers and abusers of indigenous women and children. The first book in the series is out, and the second has already been written as well, and will come out later.
“I was concerned about writing about women in this way, and I sent chapters of the book to women around the country to see if they thought it was ok, and when they said it was I continued on,” he said.
The book has attracted some extra attention. Tantoo Cardinal, the Canadian actor, has purchased the film rights to the Elk Whistle Warrior Society and is hoping to bring it to the screen using an entirely indigenous cast.
“She is the same age as me, 73, and for both of us this is a project that we hope to get done as long as we hold up, and she has the time,” he said.
Even if a film doesn't happen, Rick will continue writing and researching Algonquin history and visiting schools. He has no intention of retiring from his sweet second career.
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