By Nancy Lewis

Armand Ruffo (Photo: Susan Bernard)

"Armand Ruffo is definitely a writer with a future, a writer to be watched."

This citation by Tomson Highway on the book jacket of Ruffo's 1997 biography, Grey Owl, The Mystery of Archie Belaney, is high praise coming from one of Canada's best known storytellers.

"It was a positive endorsement from someone I respect as a writer," says Ruffo, Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Education, Research and Culture at Carleton. "It's inspiring. It's confirmation that I must be doing something right."

It wasn't long ago that Ruffo himself was an aspiring author and student. Today, he's earned his place as a contemporary with Highway and other emerging voices in Canadian literature.

Since his first poetry collection, Opening in the Sky, in 1994, Ruffo's poems, stories and essays have been widely published in critical anthologies and literary journals. His second book, Grey Owl: The Mystery of Archie Belaney (Coteau Books: Regina, 1997), garnered significant attention and earned Ruffo national acclaim. He's also written several plays including Ghost Woman and his latest script, A Windigo Tale, which will be produced in Edmonton in January. His third manuscript, At Geronimo's Grave, will be published in spring 2001.

Ruffo's work is heavily influenced by his Ojibway heritage. Raised in the northern Ontario town of Chapleau, Ruffo spent his summers in the village of Biscotasing, where the legendary Grey Owl (Archibald Stansfeld Belaney) actually lived with Ruffo's great-grandmother's family in the early 1900's.

Armand Ruffo, left, poses with actor Pierce Brosnan on the set of the 1999 film Grey Owl in Chelsea, Quebec. Ruffo, who wrote the highly acclaimed 1997 book, Grey Owl: The Mystery of Archie Belaney, was invited by director Richard Atten-borough to meet the star and to discuss the character of Archie Belaney.

Ruffo wrote his fictional biography of Archie Belaney by piecing together pieces of oral history, memories of his ancestors and by researching archived journals and conducting personal interviews. "It's very close to me," he says.

Since graduating with an honours degree in English from the University of Ottawa and a master's degree in literature and creative writing from the University of Windsor, Ruffo has taught creative writing at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the En'owkin International School of Writing in Penticton, British Columbia. At Carleton, Ruffo specializes in teaching native literature and draws on his heritage in the classroom.

In his fourth year courses, Ruffo tries to highlight thematic concerns of native people and to examine different perspectives on historical events to give insight into the complexities of aboriginal identity in a multicultural society.

"I feel compelled to talk about important issues," he says. "It's always been a part of native culture for storytelling to have a social and spiritual function. I try to open it up and culturally decode it for my students."

Ruffo's success in the publishing industry is a boon for Carleton's native literature curriculum. As a rising author he's been able to use his connections to bring other well known writers -- such as Ojibway playwright Drew Hayden Taylor, Metis poet Gregory Scofield and Okanogan poet and novelist Jeannette Armstrong -- to the university to read and speak to students.