Lorne Joseph Simon (novelist) was born 10 October 1960 in the First Nations reservation of Elsipoqtoq, New Brunswick (formerly known as Big Cove). His published works include the novel Stones and Switches (1994) and a short story, which was included in the anthology Blue Dawn, Red Earth: New Native American Storytellers. They are both heavily influenced by his upbringing in a First Nations community.
Simon was fluent in speaking and writing the Mi’kmaq language and was raised according to Mi’kmaq tradition. A traditional upbringing meant that from a young age he was taught his language and ways of living from the land. Learning how to fish and hunt were key to living traditionally, as was seasonal readiness (being able to prepare for the harsh Canadian winter). Ice fishing, he learned, was one example of being seasonally prepared. To a traditional First Nations individual, all humans are beings from the earth and he learned accordingly of the importance of offerings to the land as key to the relationship between men and the earth. He learned the rituals of offerings, such as an offering of tobacco given to the land in exchange for the bounty acquired by the hunter.
Simon graduated from the En’owkin International School of Writing in British Columbia in 1992, where he received the Simon Lucas Jr. Award for being the top graduating student. He had just begun a Bachelor of Education Degree at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, when he died suddenly in a car accident.