About the episode
Women of the Fur Trade playwright Frances Končan shares the inspiration and creative process behind their play, and the importance of sitting around and talking.
About the book
In eighteen hundred and something something, somewhere upon the banks of a Reddish River in Treaty One Territory, three very different women with a preference for twenty-first century slang sit in a fort sharing their views on life, love, and the hot nerd Louis Riel. This lively historical satire of survival and cultural inheritance shifts perspectives from the male gaze onto women’s power in the past and present through the lens of the rapidly changing world of the Canadian fur trade.
About the author
Frances Končan is a Two-Spirit director, playwright, and actor of mixed Anishinaabe and Slovene descent. Originally hailing from Couchiching First Nation, she now lives and works in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Končan is a winner of the REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award and the Winnipeg Arts Council's 2017 RBC On the Rise Award. Women of the Fur Trade won the Toronto Fringe Festival Best New Play award in 2018. Končan is known for her use of humour to tackle the difficult chapters of Indigenous history while also celebrating the wit, the pride, and the power of Indigenous women.
