Following the success of their bestselling book Hello Humpback!, celebrated and award-winning children’s authors Roy Henry Vickers and Robert (Lucky) Budd are back with One Eagle Soaring. We had a moment to check-in with Lucky and learn more about these wonderful books. Read our full interview below and follow along on Twitter with Lucky and Roy.
How did the partnership begin?
Roy and I met over our love of BC’s stories! I was working for a time at the Royal BC Museum as the person charged with digitizing their oral history collections. It took me nearly 5 years to listen to all of the amazing stories in there! Roy called me one day because there were a few recordings he was looking for. We connected right away and have been in this together ever since.
How many books are in the series (or, how many will there be)?
We are planning on doing 3 books in this series: first words (Hello Humpback), numbers (One Eagle Soaring) and colours (that will be next year). It is possible we will do a 4th.
What inspired One Eagle Soaring and Hello Humpback?
I was visiting Roy’s home which overlooks the Skeena River. My children (5-3 at the time) were playing on the grass with a friend’s little one (1 year old). An eagle swooped over the river and landed in a tree. Our friend said, “I wish there was a little book that could explain what we see every day on the west coast to my toddler!” Roy and I looked at one another and said, “We can do that!” The result was Hello Humpback!
What’s next for the series?
The next book in the series is a book that will introduce the colours we see everyday when we are out playing along our majestic west coast!!
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ROY HENRY VICKERS is a renowned carver, painter and printmaker. He is the co-author of Harbour Publishing’s popular children’s Northwest Coast Legends series, all of which were shortlisted for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award: Raven Brings the Light in 2014, Cloudwalker in 2015, Orca Chief in 2016 and Peace Dancer in 2017. He lives in Hazelton, BC.
ROBERT (LUCKY) BUDD is the co-author of the Northwest Coast Legends series and the author of Voices of British Columbia (Douglas & McIntyre, 2010), which was shortlisted for the 2011 Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award, and its sequel, Echoes of British Columbia (Harbour Publishing, 2014), which won second prize in the BC Historical Federation’s writing competition in 2014. He lives in Victoria, BC.
