Longtime Yellowknifer Michelle Swallow has published her first full-length fiction novel, titled ‘Northern Bull.’
Set in Yellowknife, the book has been described as a “comic romp,” says Swallow. The story follows a man who’s been accused of stealing his friend’s severed, frozen moose head. The man, along with a cast of Yellowknife-inspired characters, scrambles to recover the missing moose head in time for an upcoming burlesque show.
“The book, it’s a celebration of Yellowknife,” says Swallow. “I wanted to have something that really highlighted a lot of the small joys and the creative community in this town, and some of the silliness and ridiculousness of trying to live your life when it’s minus-40-below out and everything’s falling apart around you.”
According to Swallow, Northern Bull, which she started roughly four years ago, took three years to write and one year to edit.
The work was finally published this past January.
Swallow says writing a book wasn’t always something she knew she would end up doing, but that the dream of writing a novel was always in her heart. Swallow’s first book, a nonfiction guidebook to paddling the Mackenzie River, gave her the confidence to approach a project as “complex” and “unwieldy” as her first fiction novel.
She has been interested in literature for as long as she can remember, recalling her love of reading, bookstores, libraries, writing and writing workshops.
“Yeah, I was always a big reader as a kid — a huge reader,” she said. “I always did really enjoy writing as well. I wasn’t writing novels as a kid, but I would always write my family’s Christmas letters to each other, and I loved doing those. I loved writing little travel stories back to my family, I always enjoyed writing quite a bit.”
Swallow will be one of the featured authors at the 2026 NorthWords Writers Festival, May 28-31 in Yellowknife. She said finally attending the event as a full-fledged fiction author means a lot to her.
“I’ve attended NorthWords for well over a decade, probably 15 years, just as a participant, as a reader, or an aspiring writer,” she said.
The workshops and mentorships offered through the festival helped keep her motivated to finish her book, she added.
“I think of it just as a touchpoint throughout the years, to remind myself that I enjoy this, that I love writing and to keep going with the project that I had started.”
The tips and tricks shared by seasoned authors were valuable in developing Swallow’s understanding of the field. Now, Swallow will be the one offering her insight to other aspiring authors.
She moved to the NWT when she was three years old. Her father, who was a nurse, moved his family to Sanikiluaq, back when Nunavut was still a part of the NWT. Since then, she’s lived in Norman Wells, Aklavik, and Inuvik.
Although her relatives now live in Hay River, Swallow has called Yellowknife home for the past 20 years, and she doesn’t see that changing.
By Kody Ferron, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on May 15, 2026 at 09:24
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