Tag Archives: The Marrow Thieves

Industry News

Thunderbird Entertainment announces collaboration with Cherie Dimaline and Jennica Harper to develop The Marrow Thieves series for TV

From a media release:

Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc. (TSXV:TBRD) (“Thunderbird” or the “Company”), a global multiplatform entertainment company, is thrilled to confirm that author Cherie Dimaline will work with TV writer and producer Jennica Harper to adapt Dimaline’s  award-winning novel, The Marrow Thieves, for television. The series will be produced by the Company’s scripted division with Dimaline and Harper set to executive produce alongside Alexandra Raffé and Ivan Fecan, who is Thunderbird Entertainment’s Executive Chair of the Board.

The Marrow Thieves is set in a dystopian future where Earth has been ravaged by climate change. Wanted for their bone marrow, which contains the lost ability to dream, North American Indigenous people are being hunted by government recruiters and used as unwilling donors. The story centers on Frenchie, a highly resourceful Indigenous teenager, and his companions, who together embark on a journey to the old lands in the hopes of surviving and reuniting with loved ones.

Dimaline is a Métis author and editor whose fiction has been anthologized internationally. Renowned for many accomplishments, her most recent novel, The Marrow Thieves, won the Governor General’s Award for English-language children’s literature and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers in 2017, the same year it was named a Native American Library Association Honor Book. Last year, The Marrow Thieves won the Sunburst Award, the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Amy Mathers Teen Book Award, and the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature. The Marrow Thieves has also been a finalist for the Trillium Book Award and the Ontario Library Association’s White Pine Award. Singer Jully Black represented the book on CBC’s 2018 Canada Reads, and it was later recognized as the bestselling Canadian book by CBC Books that same year. The Marrow Thieves has been a Canadian bestseller for over a year and continues to hold a spot on the Globe and Mail Canadian fiction list, nearly two years after publication.

Harper is a Vancouver-based TV writer and producer, whose background includes work on the current hit crime drama Cardinal, ABC summer thriller Somewhere Between, and popular crime drama Motive, among others. Most recently, she served as the co-creator, writer and showrunner on the comedy Jann, a fictitious take on the life of Jann Arden, which will premiere later this year.  She has been nominated for a Canadian Screen Award and is the recipient of both a WGC Award for Screenwriting and a Leo Award.

In addition to being a Canadian bestseller, The Marrow Thieves is set to be published in the United Kingdom and Australia, as well as translated into German and French. It will also be a spotlight book at the 2020 Frankfurt Bookfair.

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Industry News

Thunderbird to bring Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves to television

From a media release:

Thunderbird Entertainment announced today that they have optioned Cherie Dimaline’s award-winning novel, The Marrow Thieves. The book, which won The Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People’s Literature – Text and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers last year, will be adapted as a limited series for television.

The Marrow Thieves takes place in a not-too-distant future after humanity has nearly destroyed the world through global warming. An even greater evil lurks: the Indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost— the ability to dream. In this dark world, sixteen-year-old Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden — but what they don’t know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves. Despite the bleak future depicted in The Marrow Thieves, it resonates with a message of hope, loyalty and belonging.

“We were thrilled when Thunderbird expressed interest in The Marrow Thieves, but our thrill quickly gave way to the genuine enthusiasm and excitement Alex Raffé brought to our discussions. We could not imagine a better home for the book’s characters and story,” said Marc Côté, publisher of Cormorant Books.

The best-selling book was a CBC Canada Reads selection, has spent eleven weeks on the Globe and Mail bestseller list reaching #1, received starred reviews from Quill & Quire, Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Booklist. The Marrow Thieves was one of the Globe and Mail 100 Best Books of 2017 and is currently shortlisted for the White Pine Award. It was named one of the top ten books by the Ontario Library Association and was named an Honour Book by the American Indian Library Association.

“Because The Marrow Thieves has become an important work for the Indigenous community, it was essential to find a team who could bring this story to life with a commitment to honour its messages and worldview. Thunderbird has made such a commitment and I am happy to be working with them as this project comes to life and gains an even larger audience,” said author Cherie Dimaline.

Linda Saint of The Saint Agency arranged the deal with Thunderbird’s Senior Vice-President Scripted Production Alex Raffé.

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