George Blondin was a Dene Elder and an author from the Northwest Territories. He was an accomplished trapper and wilderness guide, and his books preserved stories, both historical and mythological, passed down to him from the Dene community. When the World was New: Stories of the Sahtu Dene was his first book, published in 1990. Reviewer Wayne A. Holst of The Arctic Institute of North America, described it as "an event of northern publishing significance."

Holst added, "The reader of these stories participates in the historic transformation of traditional lore — part myth, part fact, all true — from the universal wisdom of the spoken word to the irreplaceable richness of the written document."

The first section of the book is called "Tales the Elders Told" and is comprised of over 100 pages of stories. The second half is a comprehensive account of the Blondin family's history, including the loss of Dene cultural heritage between his grandfather and father's generations.