We are elated to announce that Eagle Vision and Spike & Sadie Media have optioned INDIGENOUS INGENUITY: A CELEBRATION OF TRADITIONAL NORTH AMERICAN KNOWLEDGE by Deidre Havrelock and Edward Kay to develop it as a ten-episode factual series!
Havrelock and Kay have joined the creative team working on the INDIGENOUS INGENUITY series, along with Spike & Sadie MD Ira Levy and Eagle Vision’s Lisa Meeches, Rebecca Gibson, Dinae Robinson and Kyle Irving. The Shaw Rocket Fund and the Canada Media Fund are also on board as development partners. Set outdoors with two young Indigenous hosts, each episode will showcase the practical science of traditional knowledge through challenges, experiments and the guidance of Indigenous STEM experts and practitioners.
INDIGENOUS INGENUITY is published by Christy Ottaviano Books/Little, Brown and Company. It received starred reviews in School Library Journal and Booklist, and it has garnered a long list of honours since publishing in the spring of 2023, including: being named an NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book, an American Association of Geography Recommended Book, a National Education Society Read Across America Selection, a Winner of the Nerdy Book Club Award for Best Longform Nonfiction, a Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Book for Kids & Teens, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Shelf Awareness Gift Guide Selection, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and it was Recommended Reading on Indigenous Rights by The American Society of International Law.
Deidre Havrelock is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta. She was raised in Edmonton, Alberta and, in addition to Indigenous Ingenuity is the author of the picture books Buffalo Wild! (Annick Press) and Why We Dance: A Story of Hope and Healing (Abrams Books for Young Readers).
Edward Kay is the author of eight published books for adults and young readers, including the adult mystery/thriller At Rope’s End (Crooked Lane); The Gross Science series (Kids Can Press); and Indigenous Ingenuity. He is also a screenwriter and showrunner, specializing in comedy and children’s television.
Amy Tompkins represented Deidre Havrelock in the deal, and Glenn Cockburn at Meridian Artists represented Edward Kay.
Congratulations!