Film rights for David A. Robertson's YA series The Misewa Saga picked up by ABC Signature

Film rights for The Misewa Saga, a middle-grade fantasy series by Cree writer David A. Robertson, has been picked up by ABC Signature.

The Winnipeg-based author shared the news on Twitter.

"I have been keeping this a secret for a long time, but now it's official!" he wrote. "I am so thrilled about this, and excited to share the news."

The Misewa Saga is a planned four-book series that kicks off with the books The Barren Grounds and The Great Bear. 

The series follows two Indigenous foster children, Morgan and Eli, who discover a secret portal in an unfinished attic room. It takes them to the frozen world of the Misewa, a community in crisis.

In The Barren Grounds, Morgan and Eli befriend the Misewa hunter Ochek, who is in charge of keeping everyone from starving during the icy winter. Ochek teaches Morgan and Eli about traditional ways of survival, and embarks with them and a sassy Squirrel on an epic quest to save his community.

The book was a finalist for the 2020 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — text. 

• How David A. Robertson manages to write as much as he does

The Great Bear, the second book in the series, brings Morgan and Eli back to the world of their Misewa friends. It was published at the end of September. 

Robertson is an award-winning author of 23 books and member of Norway House Cree Nation. He writes books of all genres, including a YA superhero series called The Reckoner, a picture book about the residential school system called When We Were Alone and a memoir about his father titled Black Water: Family, Legacy and Blood Memory.

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Robertson further explored his family history in a five-episode CBC podcast called Kiwew.

He also contributed a story about Francis "Peggy" Pegahmagabow, one of the most decorated Indigenous soldiers in Canadian history, to the comic book anthology This Place. The story was turned into a CBC Books podcast. 

27:28Peggy

An Ojibwa from the Parry Island Band, Francis "Peggy" Pegahmagabow is one of the most decorated Indigenous soldiers in Canadian history. This story follows Peggy as he demonstrates bravery and skill on the battlefields of the First World War, only to return home and be denied fair treatment.

Robertson received the Freedom to Read Award in 2021, which recognizes a writer whose work is passionately supportive of the freedom to read.