Q

Why Tanya Tagaq is 'terrified' anyone will read her acclaimed debut novel, Split Tooth

The musician has spent her career "hiding" behind her music, but with her new project, Split Tooth, which mixes fiction and memoir, she's more exposed than ever.
Tanya Tagaq is a Polaris Prize-winning Inuk throat singer. Her debut book Split Tooth is a mix of memoir and fiction about her life growing up in Nunavut. (Katrin Braga)

With her debut novel, Split Tooth, the Tanya Tagaq we know as a powerhouse in Canadian music proves she has the chops to move audiences with the written word, too. Tom Power talks to Tagaq about blending genres, fact and fiction in her new work, which is set where she grew up in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

She also discuses the difference between the music and book worlds. "I got very fancy all of a sudden," she says."I'm very smart now." 

Click listen and you'll also hear Tagaq read an exclusive excerpt from Split Tooth, which has already been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Produced by ​Diane Eros


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