Sakiasi Qaunaq was born in 1942, at Alangnarjuk, a campsite near Igloolik, but has lived most of his life in the Arctic Bay area. His grandmother told him stories as a child-including The Orphan and the Polar Bear-and fostered in him a love for traditional legends that persists to this day. In his youth the stories were told for entertainment, but today he feels their re-telling is crucial to sustaining Inuit traditions and culture.