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Authors List

  • Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler is the author of Ghost Lake, which won the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award in Published English Fiction, and of Wrist, an Indigenous monster story written from the monster’s perspective (both from Kegedonce Press).

    He is co-editor of Bawaajigan—Stories of Power, a dream-themed anthology of Indigenous writers (Exile Editions). He is an artist and filmmaker who works in a variety of mediums, including audio and video, and drawing and painting. Nathan is the first-place winner of an Aboriginal Writing Challenge, and recipient of a Hnatyshyn Reveal award for literature. He has an MFA in Creative Writing (UBC), BFA in Integrated Media (OCAD), and BA in English Literature and Native Studies (Trent).

    His writing is published in various magazines, blogs, and anthologies. He is a two-spirit, Jewish, Anishinaabe, and member of Lac Des Mille Lacs First Nation. Originally from Ontario, he currently resides in Vancouver.

    University Teacher at Kwantlen Polytechnic University

  • Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is a member of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, on the Saugeen Peninsula in Ontario. Kateri is an Assistant Professor, teaching Creative Writing, Indigenous Literatures and Oral Traditions in the English Department at the University of Toronto, Scarborough.

    She has taught creative writing and Indigenous literatures at the University of Manitoba, the Banff Centre’s Aboriginal Arts Program, and the En’owkin International School of Writing in partnership with the University of Victoria.

    Her publications encompass poetry, fiction, non-fiction, radio plays, television and film, libretti, graphic novels, and spoken word. Her teaching and creative work is firmly decolonial, a practice of cultural resurgence, affirmation and survivance.

    She is a recipient of a REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award for writing, her 2015 book of short stories, The Stone Collection, was a finalist for the Sarton Literary Book Awards, and her collaborative recording A Constellation of Bones was a nominee for a 2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Award.

    Kateri was the 2011–2012 Poet Laureate for Owen Sound and North Grey. She founded and coordinated the first Honouring Words: International Indigenous Authors Celebration Tour in 2003 and initiated and was a co-organizer for the first Indigenous Comics Symposium in 2021.

    She is the founder, publisher, and art director for Kegedonce Press. (Re)Generation: The Poetry of Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, selected and edited by Dallas Hunt, will be released in August 2021. She is currently completing work on a new collection of poetry and a collection of humourous short stories.

  • Keeshig Spade and his family are the authors and illustrators of Keeshig and the Ojibwe Pterodactyls, an illustrated children's book.

    Celeste Pedri-Spade describes the story: "This story came from our 4-year-old son named Keeshig Spade. Keeshig is a very proud and gifted Anishinabe storyteller. He shared this with his family back in the summer of 2016 during a trip out to visit Nanabooshoo (Sleeping Giant Provincial Park). As his parents, we encourage Keeshig to share his voice and we love to share his stories with our Elders whenever we visit them. After Keeshig came up with this story, we shared it with our Elder Gerry Baxter. He told us that it reminded him of the old stories his mother used to tell him when he was a boy and he told us to write this story down, not only for Keeshig but for other Anishinabe children. Following his direction, we wrote it down exactly as it took place that summer day (as a conversation between Keeshig and his mom.)

    "Art is a very important part of the way we live as an Anishinabe family. We bead, sew and also paint. Since Keeshig’s dad, Robert, is an accomplished painter and Keeshig’s younger brother Kiniw also loves to paint and draw, we thought of proposing this book as a family project. The story is Keeshig’s as told to his mother Celeste, and the illustrations can be created and contributed by Robert with help from Kiniw Spade."

    Keeshig Spade (Keeshigbahnahnkut) is a six year-old Anishinabe from Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation. He currently resides with his family in Sudbury, ON where he attends Alexander Public School. Keeshig enjoys being a big brother to Kiniw and Wakinyan and he enjoys doing many things with them including playing outside, swimming and dancing men’s traditional at powwows. Keehshig is a member of the Sturgeon Clan and has a gift for sharing stories and singing songs. Keeshig’s favorite time of the year is when he gets to go back west in the summer to be with his kookums and great kookum.

    Dr. Celeste Pedri-Spade (Anang Onimiwin) is an Anishinabekwe from Lac Des Mille Lacs First Nation. She is a mother, wife, researcher, learner, and artist. Celeste is an Assistant Professor in the School of Northern and Community Studies at Laurentian University where she also teaches in the School of Indigenous Relations. She is also the inaugural Director of the Maamwizing Indigenous Research Institute.

    Robert Spade (Keeshigooninii) is an Anishinabe artist-educator from Northern Ontario (Fort Hope First Nation). Rob is a father, husband, artist, sundancer, teacher (Sturgeon Clan), and has many years of experience delivering cultural and arts-based education, counseling and support, cultural sensitivity training, cultural-arts-based therapy and guidance to Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, youth, and adults. Rob has spent over half his life living and working out on the land in his traditional territory learning teachings and stories, ceremonies, traditional skills and art from his Elders. He is a gifted and accomplished storyteller, men’s traditional dancer, drummer, singer, and visual artist.

    Kiniw Spade (Nitaw Gamik) is a five year-old Anishinabe from Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation. He currently resides with his family in Sudbury, ON and is in SK at Alexander Public School. Kiniw enjoys spending time with his brothers, Keeshig and Wakinyan, and the rest of his family. He loves visiting, playing with small animal toys, dancing men’s traditional, reading books and painting. His favourite birds are the woodpecker and seagull.

  • Christi Belcourt is a Michif (Métis) visual artist with a deep respect for Mother Earth, the traditions and the knowledge of her people. In addition to her paintings, she is also known as a community-based artist, environmentalist and advocate for the lands, waters and Indigenous peoples.

    She is currently a lead organizer for the Onaman Collective, which focuses on the resurgence of language and land-based practices. She is also the lead coordinator for Walking With Our Sisters, a community-driven project that honours murdered or missing Indigenous women.

    Her work Giniigaaniimenaaning (Looking Ahead) commemorates residential school survivors, their families and communities to mark the Prime Minister’s historic apology in 2008 and is installed at the Centre Block on Parliament Hill, commissioned by the Government of Canada.

    She was named the Aboriginal Arts Laureate by the Ontario Arts Council in 2015. In 2016 she won a Governor General’s Innovation Award and was named the winner of the 2016 Premier’s Awards in the Arts. Author of Medicines To Help Us (Gabriel Dumont Institute, 2007) and Beadwork (Ningwakwe Learning Press, 2010).

    Christi’s work is found within the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Gabriel Dumont Institute, the Indian and Inuit Art Collection, Parliament Hill, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and the Canadian Museum of Civilization, First People’s Hall.

  • Born and raised in Garden River First Nations, located outside of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Lesley is an Ojibway writer and spoken word performer. She has an M.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Windsor.

    Lesley’s fiction, poetry, and plays have been published in journals and anthologies in Canada and the US and she has performed her spoken word pieces at various events. An advocate for Indigenous arts, Lesley has hosted several poetry cabarets featuring Ojibway hand drumming and highlighting the work of local Indigenous performers. Lesley is a part-time university instructor and trustee at the Garden River Reserve Community Trust. She lives in Kingston, Ontario with her family.

  • Congratulations to Louise Bernice Halfe - Sky Dancer, Canada's new Parliamentary Poet Laureate!

    Louise Bernice Halfe, whose Cree name is Sky Dancer, was born in Two Hills, Alberta. She was raised on the Saddle Lake Indian Reserve and attended Blue Quills Residential School. She first published her poetry in Writing the Circle: Women of Western Canada. She has since published four poetry collections, with a fifth to be released in 2021. A retrospective of her work, Sôhkêyihta, was published by Wilfrid Laurier Press in 2018. Blue Marrow was first published in 1998 and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry, Pat Lowther Award, and Saskatchewan Book of the Year Award.

    Halfe, whose works are well known for their inclusion of Cree language and teachings, served as poet laureate of Saskatchewan, only the second person to do so. She has been awarded three Honourary Degrees of Letters, from Wilfrid Laurier University (2018), the University of Saskatchewan (2019) and Mount Royal University (2021). She works as an Elder at the University of Saskatchewan where she is a consultant in several departments. In 2020 she won the Cheryl & Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence and was awarded a lifetime membership with the League of Canadian poets. She lives just outside of Saskatoon.

  • Kelsey Borgford is a Nbisiing Nishnaabekwe from the Marten clan. She is an emerging author, passionate about utilizing writing as a tool to revitalize cultural connections.

    After losing her Gokomis-baa in 2014, Kelsey sought out a means of connection with her grandmother and found that connection to her through the arts. Kelsey’s work aims to pass along cultural traditions and identity.

    Her work is predominantly centred in the practice of beading and writing. She has a children’s book, What’s in a Bead, forthcoming from Second Story Press. In all aspects of her creativity, Kelsey draws inspiration from her culture, her mother, her community, and relatives in the natural world.

  • Deborah L. Delaronde-Falk lives in central Manitoba on a cattle ranch along the western shores of Lake Winnipegosis. She honours her Metis heritage by writing and publishing under her maiden name.

    Deborah’s twelve published stories except for “Friendship Bay” and “The Rabbit’s Race” focus on Metis protagonists with story situations that she hopes will convey the way of life of the Metis people in both a historical and contemporary context. Louis Riel Day: The Fur Trade Project is Deborah’s twelfth book.

    Deborah retired as a children’s librarian having worked for twenty-six years at Duck Bay School in the community of Duck Bay, Manitoba. She earned her employer Frontier School Division’s “Outstanding Contribution Award” and the prestigious “Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Literacy” Award presented by The Honourable Peter M. Liba’, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba.

    Deborah is the first recipient of the ’Beatrice Mosionier Aboriginal Writer of the Year Award, 2015.

  • Cherie Dimaline is the author of The Marrow Thieves, which has been declared one of TIME magazine's Best YA Books of All Time. An international bestseller, it has won the Governor General’s Award and the prestigious Kirkus Prize for Young Readers, among numerous other accolades. Her new novel Empire of Wild (Random House) became an instant Canadian bestseller and was named Indigo's #1 Best Book of 2019.

    Cherie is a member of the Georgian Bay Métis Community in Ontario. She lives in her traditional territory on the Georgian Bay with her family where she is currently writing for television and adapting Empire of Wild for the stage. In 2016, Cherie published A Gentle Habit, a brilliant collection of short stories, with Kegedonce Press.

  • Leah Marie Dorion’s piece, Spirit Dancers, is featured on the cover and inside pages of Blue Marrow, 2020, by Louise Bernice Halfe. Leah is a Metis writer and artist currently living near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. Her artwork celebrates the strength and resilience of Indigenous women and families.

    Leah is also a published children’s book author and illustrator. Several of her Metis cultural books are available through Gabriel Dumont Press in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Strong Nations Publishing in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Recently Oscardo, an online gift shop located in Toronto, Ontario, began distributing products and fashions featuring her unique style of art works.

  • Metis poet, writer, and professor Marilyn Dumont teaches for the faculties of Arts and Native Studies at the University of Alberta. Her four collections of poetry have won either provincial or national awards: A Really Good Brown Girl (1996); green girl dreams Mountains (2001); that tongued belonging (2007); The Pemmican Eaters (2015).

    She was awarded 2018 Lifetime Membership from the League of Canadian Poets for her contributions to poetry in Canada, and in 2019, awarded the University of Alberta Distinguished Alumni Award and the Alberta Lieutenant Governor’s Distinguished Artist Award.

  • Albert Dumont is Algonquin from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg. He is a Spiritual Advisor and since October 2016 he has been serving his community as one of 13 Elders on the Elders Advisory Committee of the Ministry of the Attorney General.

    In recognition for his work as an activist and volunteer on his ancestral lands (Ottawa and Region), Albert was presented with a Human Rights Award by the Public Service Alliance of Canada in 2010. In January 2017 he received the DreamKEEPERS Citation for Outstanding Leadership.

    Albert has dedicated his life to promoting Indigenous spirituality and healing and to protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples, particularly those as they affect the young. From 2021 to 2023, Albert Dumont was the English-Language Poet Laureate for Ottawa.

  • Cole Forrest is an Ojibwe filmmaker and programmer from Nipissing First Nation. They have written and directed independent short films that have been screened at film festivals including imagineNATIVE, TQFF, and the Vancouver International Film Festival.

    Cole is a recipient of the Ken and Ann Watts Memorial Scholarship and of the James Bartleman Indigenous Youth Creative Writing Award. They were the 2019 recipient of the imagineNATIVE + LIFT Film Mentorship and a 2020 Artist in Residence as a part of the Sundance Native Filmmakers Lab.

    Cole has supported programming at festivals including TIFF, imagineNATIVE, and Fabulous Festival of Fringe Film. They are a graduate of the Video Design and Production program at George Brown College. Cole is currently writing their first feature film. They are grateful to represent their community in all artistic pursuits.

  • Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee Nation) is Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture and Chair of the First Nations Studies Program at the University of British Columbia, unceded Musqueam territory. He is most known for his book Why Indigenous Literatures Matter (2018, Wilfrid Laurier Press).

    His previous publications include a study of Cherokee literature, Our Fire Survives the Storm: A Cherokee Literary History, along with the Way of Thorn and Thunder series from Kegedonce Press (omnibus edition from the University of New Mexico Press). His most recent publications are Badger, part of the Animal Series from Reaktion Books (UK), and the co-edited Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature.

  • Scott B. Henderson (he/him) is a freelance illustrator. He is the author/illustrator of the sci-fi/fantasy comic The Chronicles of Era. His works include 7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga, and The Reckoner Rises (written by David A. Robertson), the Eisner Award nominated A Blanket of Butterflies (written by Richard Van Camp), and A Girl Called Echo (written by Katherena Vermette).

    Scott is a graduate of the University of Manitoba’s School of Fine Art, and lives in Winnipeg, MB.

    Scott is the illustrator of the graphic short story “Mermaids” in Angel Wing Splash Pattern.

  • It is with great sadness and respect that Kegedonce Press says a fond "baamaapii gwabmin" to Basil H. Johnston, our dear friend, renowned author, celebrated storyteller, tireless promoter of the Anishinaabe language, and much loved member of the Kegedonce Press family as he makes his journey across the path of stars. It has been our great joy and honour to have worked with Basil over the past years to share his work with the public. Words cannot adequately express our gratitude for Basil's generosity, humour, straightforwardness, and laughter. We hold many wonderful memories of him both personally and professionally and know that our lives, and the lives of his many friends and readers, were enriched for having known him. Basil, we will miss you deeply. K’zaugin and chi megwetch for the tremendous legacy you have left us all. Until we meet again… The Kegedonce Press Family—Sept. 10, 2015

    Back in 1968 a grade 5 student, after studying Indians in depth for five weeks, asked Basil Johnston, a visitor to the school, “Is that all there is to Indians, Sir?”Since that time Basil Johnston wrote over 15 books in English and 5 in Ojibway to show that there is much more to North American life than social organization, hunting and fishing, food preparation, clothing, dwellings and transportation. Basil Johnston was an esteemed Anishinaabe writer, storyteller, language teacher and scholar. He was born in Wasauksing First Nation in 1929, and was a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. Johnston was awarded the Order of Ontario, three honorary doctorates, and the 2013 OAC Aboriginal Arts Award.

    Among the books that Basil wrote are Ojibway Heritage, Indian School Days, The Manitous and Crazy Dave. In addition he has written numerous articles that have been published in newspapers, anthologies and periodicals. For his work, he has received the Order of Ontario and Honourary Doctorates from the University of Toronto and Laurentian University.

    In June 2013, Basil Johnston was awarded the Aboriginal Arts Award from the Ontario Arts Council. Read about it here.

  • Sharon King is an educator, performer and producer. She is Potawatomi from the Wasauksing First Nation near Parry Sound. Most recently, Sharon has worked at a community level as an educator in Wasauksing. She is best known for her Juno nomination in 1999 (Aboriginal Women’s Voices, Hearts of the Nation).

    She has produced community arts programs and her travels have helped with a strong connection to artists, filmmakers, and producers in Canada. Her strong hold on Indigenous culture and singing has maintained her efforts in her keeping tradition present with her family and community.

  • D.A. Lockhart is the author of seven collections of poetry, including Devil in the Woods (Brick Books 2019) and Tukhone: Where the River Narrows and the Shores Bend (Black Moss Press 2020). His work has appeared in Best Canadian Poetry in English 2019, TriQuarterly, ARC Poetry Magazine, Grain, Belt, and the Malahat Review among many.

    He is a Turtle Clan member of Eelünaapéewi Lahkéewiit (Lenape), a registered member of the Moravian of the Thames First Nation, and currently resides at the south shore of Waawiiyaatanong (Windsor,ON-Detroit, MI) and Pelee Island.

  • Emma Metallic is from the Mi’gmaq community, Listuguj, Quebec, located in the seventh district Gespe’gewa’gi, Mi’gma’gi. Emma holds a BA in contemporary studies and Law, Justice, & Society with a minor in Indigenous Studies from the University of King’s College.

    Emma is passionate about writing stories that reflect her community’s knowledge, needs, and desires. While a learner of the Mi’gmaw language, Emma strives to use the language as much as she can in her day-to-day life. Nipugtug (pronounced, “nee-book-dook”) is her debut book.

  • Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith is a Saulteaux woman from Peguis First Nation. She is an editor, writer and journalist who graduated from the University of Toronto with a specialization in Aboriginal Studies in June 2011 and went on to receive her Master’s in Education in Social Justice in June 2017.

    In 2021, she published a collection of personal essays, These are the Stories: Memories of a 60s Scoop Survivor with Kegedonce Press. She is also the editor of Silence to Strength, a collection of essays by Sixties Scoop survivors (Kegedonce Press, October 2022).

    Her first non-fiction story “Choosing the Path to Healing” appeared in the 2006 anthology Growing Up Girl: An Anthology of Voices from Marginalized Spaces. She has written for the Native Canadian, Anishinabek News, Windspeaker, FNH Magazine, New Tribe Magazine, Muskrat Magazine and the Piker Press.

    She has also co-edited the anthology Bawaajigan with fellow Indigenous writer Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler.

  • Oliver Moss Warawa McDonald was born in North Vancouver, B.C. and has lived his entire life by the coast. He is a member of the Peguis Nation, and identifies as a 2-spirit person. Counting at Kits Beach (2024, Kegedonce Press) is his debut children’s book. Oliver currently lives in Vancouver on stolen Musqueam and Squamish territory, where he continues to create.

    He creates art under the name West Coast Cree Creations, the name of which represents a complicated identity. Oliver is a Cree person, yet was raised on the coast. Seas and mountains are his home. He strives to learn about his ancestors back in Manitoba, and to connect with his elders. His art celebrates the balance between residing on the west coast, and his cultural roots of Cree heritage.

  • Bomgiizhik (Isaac Murdoch) is from Nimkii Aazhibikoong First Nation. He is of the Fish Clan and is Ojibwe. He has four beautiful children. He currently lives in the forest at Nimkii Aazhibikoong, an Indigenous community that focuses on Indigenous language, art, and land based activities. Being blessed with the opportunity, Bomgiizhik grew up in the traditional setting of hunting and gathering on the land. Having spent many years learning from Elders, he spends a lot of his time as a Story Teller. Many of these stories become his visual art pieces which have become recognized world wide. Bomgiizhik is also a Singer Song Writer who loves to make music when ever he gets a chance. You will often find him on the land looking at his favorite plants or gazing into the beautiful night sky.

    Bomgiizhik (revolving Sky) Nimkii Aazhibikoong njibaa. Giigoonhan doodeman. Ojibwe aawi. Niiwin gwenaajiwinjin wdaansan wda’aawaan. Nongo megwaa daa mtigwaakiing. Nimkii Aazhibikoong, Nishinaabekiing enaagdoot Nishinaabemowin miinwaa mzinbiigeng, ngoj-go-gegoo baa nankiing maakiing. Aapji gii-mnaabewzi, Bomgiizhik gii-bi-kogid, ghkendangwaa zhi-nishnaabe maadzid, gi-giiwse, gii-zgaktaaso, gegookiing edinang.Aashi gaa-bi-kenoomaagzid getsinjin gii-bi-ghkendmaad niibna nso-boon, miinongo maanda enakiid, aadsookewnini aawi. Niibnaa go kinda dbaajmowininan gashtoonanwii-mzinbii’ang ezhiwaambdvng, miidash gonda mzinbiiganag kina mziwi king ewaambjigaazjig. Bomgiizhik ge’e ngomwinan ezhtoojindo-ngamnan, miinwaa doo-zhibii’aanan. Aapji go bishgendaan maandqa nankid, pii gwa zhised. Naangodnong syaakyoojin waawaaskoneyan maage datganaabit oodi gnawaambdang gwenaajwinik, gwenaajwang dibik giizhik.

    We are in special times. Never in the History of Humanity have we been faced with the challenges that we are now. Climate change is here and the World is changing fast. I truly believe that when we put our hearts together and unite for the Earth and people, we can achieve anything. When we lift up our people and recognize the strengths and gifts of others, we can be a force of nature. Together we will win!

    Aapiji gwa naa nonggwa kina gegoo chi zhiwebat. Gaayii gwa wiikaa e`bemaadizit gii bi waabdaziin nonngwaa ezhiwebiziiying. Weyiip nonggwa gegoo bi aansemigat naasaap ge ezhiiyaamigak gojiing, eshkam ge bi wiizho`oomgat. Ndoo ndwetaan wiigwa, Iishpin kina mi maamiwiizing maanda ji da akiiminaa, ka shkitamaami gwa. Pii gaazimaaying Anishinaabek miinwaa ge ezhi maandaawshkewziwaad miinwaa ezhi zoongde`eyaad, aapji gwa ka zoongaabwiimi. Ka kinaagemi dash.

  • Jay Odjick is an artist and writer from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg Algonquin community. He works as a freelance illustrator in publishing, children's book illustration, design and television as well as writing and drawing comic books. Jay created the cover artwork for The Dreamer's Legacy by Celu Amberstone, as well as cover and interior artwork for Emma's Gift by Deborah L. Delaronde. Check out Jay's awesome website here: http://kagagi.squarespace.com/

  • At the age of three, Aaron Paquette was terrified and enchanted by his Mother’s impersonation of Gollum while reading The Hobbit. It was then that he knew he wanted to tell stories. As an artist, his work has gone around the world. As a speaker he is in great demand for his powerful messages.

    Lightfinder was his first novel. Aaron currently serves on the Edmonton City council and lives in Edmonton with his wife and children.

  • Coltrane Seesequasis is a young fantasy writer of Indigenous heritage who grew up in Gatineau, Quebec. He first began his writing journey on long bus rides to school where he would alleviate the boredom by daydreaming of fantastical worlds, noble heroes, and unwavering villains.

    Eventually, he put those ideas to paper and started writing stories of his own with the hopes that they would one day morph into something more than just a passion. His debut novel, Secrets of Stone, is the first book of a planned series that follows a young wolf called Silversong, in a fantasy world similar to our own.

    Inspired by a love of nature as well as myths and folklore that challenge the limits of creativity, Coltrane joins a new generation of writers, adding his voice to the immersive genre of fantasy.

  • Neal Shannacappo is a Nakawe graphic novelist and poet from Rolling River First Nation in Manitoba. He’s Eagle clan and currently living, working and playing in Ottawa. You can find his stories in the Indigenous anthologies called Sovereign Traces—Not (Just) (An)other, Vol. 1 and Sovereign Traces—Relational Constellation, Vol. 2.

    The graphic novel Mashkawide’e (Has a strong heart) was published by Senator Kim Pate and copies can be found by contacting her office. Neal published his own creation, The Krillian Key, in November 2020, and is working on If I Go Missing, which is being published by James Lorimer & Company Ltd., and Niikaniganaw (All My Relations) commissioned by a group of healthcare researchers.

  • Smokii Sumac is a proud member of the Ktunaxa nation. He is a PhD Candidate in Indigenous Studies at Trent University, where his research centres on “coming home” stories from a Ktunaxa adoptee and two-spirit perspective.

    Smokii’s work has been published in Write Magazine, and under his former name (he is a man of many names) in Canadian Literature, Aanikoobijigan//Waawaashkeshi and on coffee sleeves as one of the winners of Peterborough’s e-city lit’s arts week contest in 2014. In 2020 he was shortlisted for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for emerging LGBTQ writers.

    He is on the faculty at the College of the Rockies and currently resides in Kimberley, British Columbia.

    [Author photo: Sweetmoon Photography]

  • Richard Van Camp is a proud Tłįchϙ Dene from Fort Smith, NWT. He is an internationally renowned storyteller and best-selling author of 24 books in just about every genre. His novel, The Lesser Blessed, is now a feature film with First Generation Films and his graphic novel A Blanket of Butterflies with Scott Henderson was nominated for an Eisner Award. His classic collection of short stories, Angel Wing Splash Pattern, has been published in a new, 20th Anniversary edition by Kegedonce Press. You can visit Richard on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and at www.richardvancamp.com.

    You can listen to “Mermaids” narrated by Ben Cardinal (one of the short stories from Angel Wing Splash Pattern) online via Richard’s SoundCloud profile. Listen to “the uranium leaking from port radium and rayrock mines is killing us” narrated by Richard on YouTube. Read a great interview with Richard about Kegedonce Press and Angel Wing Splash Pattern online.

    [Author photo: William Au]

  • Gloria Alvernaz Mulcahy is of Tsalagi Aniyunwiya ancestry and was born in the Monterrey Bay area on the Pacific coast. She became a member of the League of Canadian Poets after her first book of poetry-Songs that Untune the Sky. She has a PhD from the University of Maryland and is presently at the University of Western Ontario.

    Alvernaz Mulcahy's new book Borderlands & Bloodlines is focused on her indigenous roots-exploring how displacements and re-locations become journeys of necessity. The poems reflect on all our relations where cultures/races and classes touch edges occupying land, sea and sacred spaces.

    Alvernaz Mulcahy is co-author of several poetry books and various CDs with sound poet P. Kemp including Gathering Voice (2004) and Pinceladas in 2005. She launched Pinceladas (in English and Spanish) at Centro Cultural Canadá-Córdoba, Argentina de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Her most recent publication, Viva la Vida is part of an Anthology of collaborative textual poetry and is based on two poems about Frida Kahlo-mestiza (Alvernaz Mulcahy) and Frida on Exhibit (P. Kemp) which culminated in a video poem edited by videographer D. Sneppova featuring Alvernaz Mulcahy as Frida and includes her photography from Mexico and videography. Alvernaz Mulcahy's poetry is featured in various books including Four Women and Origins (Red Kite Press) and appears in various anthologies-New voices: A celebration of new Canadian poetry (Clifton Whiten, Ed.; Mosaic Press), Anthology of magazine verse and yearbook of American poetry (A.F. Pater, Ed.; Beverly Hills: Monitor Books. She is a mixed media artist-filmmaker, photographer, musician, curator for the Centre for Creativity, King's University College and more recently has created drawings influenced by petro glyphs & pictographs combined with her poetry.

  • Celu is of mixed Cherokee and Scots-Irish ancestry Celu Amberstone was one of the only young people in her family to take an interest in learning Traditional Native crafts and medicine ways.

    This made several of the older members of her family very happy while annoying others. Legally blind since birth, she has defied her limitations and spent much of her life avoiding cities. Moving to Canada after falling in love with a Métis-Cree man from Manitoba, she has lived in the rain forests of the west coast, a tepee in the desert and a small village in Canada's artic. Along the way she managed to also acquire a BA in cultural anthropology and an MA in health education. For the past 10 years she has been a frequent contributor to the SF Canada professional writers website. Her novel, The Dreamer's Legacy, was published by Kegedonce Press in 2011. Celu loves telling stories and reading. She lives in Victoria British Columbia near her grown children and four grandchildren.

  • Joanne Arnott is an award winning Métis/mixed blood writer from Manitoba. Born in 1960 in Winnipeg, she studied at the University of Windsor in Ontario. She has lived on the West Coast since 1982. She is currently the poetry editor for Event Magazine. In 2017, Joanne won the City of Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award.

    Her first book of poetry, Wiles of Girlhood won the Gerald Lampert Award in 1992. Other books include: My Grass Cradle, Breasting the Waves: On Writing & Healing, and the children's book, Ma MacDonald. She has performed readings of her work and given writing workshops across Canada and in Australia. Joanne's book Halfling Spring was shortlisted for the 2015 Pat Lowther Memorial Award (League of Canadian Poets).

  • Marjorie Beaucage is a Two-Spirit Métis Auntie, filmmaker, art-ivist and educator, a land protector and a water walker. Born in Vassar, Manitoba, to a large Métis/Michif family, Marjorie’s life’s work has been about creating social change, working to give people the tools for creating possibilities and right relations. She has been a Grandmother for Walking With Our Sisters; the Elder for OUT Saskatoon; and the Elder-In-Residence for the University of Saskatchewan Student Union. As a current Board Member of Chokecherry Studios, she is giving back to future art-ivists as they stand up for themselves and their community through creating art, music, writing. She just finished six short harm-reduction videos for creating possibilities of wellness with story medicine.

  • Chris Bose is a writer, multi-disciplinary artist, musician, and filmmaker, who has read and performed at universities, theatres, and coffeehouses at all points from Victoria to Montreal, as well as the BC Festival of the Arts, as a literary delegate to the Talking Stick Aboriginal Arts Festival in Vancouver and the Word on the Street Festival in Toronto.

    Chris continues to make art on a daily basis, and is also a workshop facilitator of community arts events, digital storytelling, art workshops with people of all ages and backgrounds, curatorial work for First Nations art shows and projects, research and writing for periodicals across Canada, project management and coordination, mixed-media productions, film, audio, and video recording and editing, and more. He is of the N'laka'pamux Nation in BC, and currently spends his time in Kamloops, BC.

    Visit Chris Bose's blog, Urban Coyote TeeVee

    Listen to Chris Bose's stream on soundcloud

  • Warren Cariou has written fiction and nonfiction about his home community in northwestern Saskatchewan, including Lake of the Prairies, which won the Drainie-Taylor Prize and was nominated for several other prizes. He teaches Indigenous literature at the University of Manitoba where he also directs the Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture.

  • Donald Chrétien created the beautiful interior illustrations for Walking in Balance, written by Basil Johnston. The unique style and impact of Indigenous fine artist Donald Chrétien springs from his combined passion for colour and woodland-style expression. His ongoing exploration of his heritage has him concentrating on distinct features of Ojibwe clans acrylic on canvas. His works are exhibited in some of the most interesting corners of North America. His Vancouver Olympics installation piece, titled: Ngashi Nijii Bineshiinh or Mother, Friend, Small Bird, is on permanent display in Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum and stands 12 feet high by 80 feet long. Over his 30-year career, Donald has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to giving back to his community. For the Union of Ontario Indians, he produced artwork for a package of educational resources dealing with Indian Residential Schools. "Little Butterfly Girl", tells the story of a child who was taken from her First Nation and brought to a Residential School. The illustrations depict the harsh reality of losing one's self and spirituality to abuse and forced religion. Donald's art can also be seen at Owen Sound's Grey Roots Museum, where it has been on exhibit since July 2010. The Good People: Know Our Stories, Know Us relates the history of the Anishinaabe and gives a greater understanding of First Nations spiritual beliefs. This collaboration led to Chrétien providing the illustrations for Basil Johnston's book, "Walking in Balance" -- ten traditional Anishinaabe stories told in both Anishinaabe and English. Donald makes his home in Newmarket, where 10 totems he created reside along Tom Taylor Trail.

  • Joseph is a Kwantlen poet, playwright and father from the Fort Langley band in British Columbia. He received a Diploma in Performing Arts from Algonquin College and studied Theatre and Direction at the University of Ottawa. His produced plays include Shake (published by skyuks press 2003.), Crackers and Soup (1994), No Totem for My Story (1995), Where Two Rivers Meet (1995), and Please Don't Touch the Indians (1998).

    Joseph has been a Playwright-in-Residence for the Museum of Civilization in Hull, in 1995 and for Native Earth in Toronto in 1996. Joseph was also Playwright in Residence at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, in the fall of 2008.

    He is also the Heritage/Lands Officer for his people and has been performing his duties for 14 years now. He has been tasked with protecting his people’s heritage from the many destructive elements of development in the Kwantlen territory.

    • Joseph loves to fish
    • He loves to write plays
    • He loves to write books of poetry
    • He also loves to watch is daughter Danessa play soccer and hockey.
    Joseph is also deeply in love with and follows his rich culture. It is his and his family's medicine and it carries them thru the winters and into the spring time when the fish start to come back into the river.

  • Garry Gottfriedson is an award winning poet, children’s author and member of the Secwepemc Nation, B.C. He is also a rancher and professional breeder of horses - His first children’s book, Painted Pony, was released in 2005

  • David Groulx was raised in Northern Ontario. He is proud of his Indigenous roots – Ojibwe Indian and French Canadian. After receiving his BA from Lakehead University, where he won the Munro Poetry Prize, David studied creative writing at the En’owkin Centre in Penticton, B.C., where he won the Simon J Lucas Jr. Memorial Award for poetry. He has also studied at The University of Victoria Creative Writing Program.

    David won the 3rd annual Poetry NOW Battle of the Bards in 2011, and was a featured reader at the IFOA in Toronto & Barrie (2011), as well as Ottawa Writer’s Festival (2012). He was the Writer-In-Residence for Open Book Toronto for November 2012. His poetry has been translated into French, Spanish and German and has appeared in over a 160 publications in 16 countries. He lives in Ottawa, Canada.

  • Al Hunter is an Anishinaabe writer who has published poetry in books and journals, taught extensively, and performed internationally. A member of Rainy River First Nations and former chief, Hunter has expertise in land claims negotiations, and is a longstanding activist on behalf of Indigenous rights and wellness, and environmental responsibility. Hunter lives in Manitou Rapids, Rainy River First Nations in Ontario. His poetry has been widely published and anthologized. Hunter was named an Anishinaabe Achiever of the Treaty #3 Nation for his environmental and educational work in 2000. During the summer of that same year, he and others led “A Walk to Remember.” They walked for 1200 miles circumnavigating Lake Superior “to bring forth community visions of protecting the air, land and water for the Seven Generations yet to come.”

    Visit Al Hunter's blog.

  • Born in Moose Factory Ontario, Jules was raised by her Cree speaking grandparents in Moosonee, and also with her mother in Ottawa, a warrior of the Canadian Residential school system. Jules is a band member of Attawapiskat First Nation, the Ancestral lands of the MoshKeKo InNiNeWak. She currently resides in Vancouver where she is a PhD candidate with the Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia, her research focus is Indigenous documentary.

    Jules was the “Aboriginal” [Indigenous] Storyteller in Residence with the Vancouver Public Library where she further developed her poetry. She carries extensive knowledge working in Indigenous community in several different capacities and these community experiences continue to feed her advocacy and her arts practice.

  • John McDonald is an award-winning writer, artist, historian, musician, playwright, actor and activist originally from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

    A sixth-generation direct descendant of Chief Mistawasis of the Plains Cree, John’s writings and artwork have been displayed in various publications, private and permanent collections and galleries around the world, including the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. John is one of the founding members of the P.A. Lowbrow art movement, and is the Vice-President of the Indigenous Peoples Artists Collective. He has served as guest editorial writer for several international publications. John is also the author of The Glass Lodge, published by Kegedonce Press, which was selected as one of the books for the 2009 First Nations Libraries Community Reads program. He has also contributed work to anthologies and secondary school textbooks.

    John has studied, on scholarship, at England’s prestigious University of Cambridge, where in July 2000 he made international headlines by symbolically ‘discovering’ and ‘claiming’ England for the First peoples of the Americas.

    John is also an acclaimed public speaker, who has presented in venues across the globe, such as the Anskohk Aboriginal Literature Festival, the Black Hills Seminars on Reclaiming Youth, The Appalachian Mountain Seminars, the Edmonton and Fort McMurray Literary Festival, the Eden Mills Writers Festival and at the Ottawa International Writers Festival. John was honoured with the opportunity to speak before the Governor General of Australia in Sydney, NSW in April of 2001. John was also included in the Aboriginal Artists and Performers Inventory for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC.

    John’s artwork and writing have been nominated for several awards, including the 2001 Saskatchewan Aboriginal Youth Achievement Award, and in 2010 and 2013 he was honoured with grants from the Saskatchewan Arts Board.

    A noted polymath, John lives in Northern Saskatchewan.

  • Neal McLeod is Cree (having grown up on the James Smith reserve in Saskatchewan) and Swedish. He had the fortunate opportunity to study abroad at the Swedish Art Academy at Umeå. Neal has exhibited his art work throughout Canada including the 2005 exhibition au fil de mes jours (in my lifetime) at Le Musée National des Beaux-arts du Quebec which was remounted at the Museum of Civilization in 2007.

    Neal’s first book of poetry entitled Songs to Kill a Wîhtikow, was nominated for several Saskatchewan book awards including Book of the Year in 2005. It was nominated for Book of the Year at the Anskohk Aboriginal Literature Awards, and won the Poetry Book of the Year by unanimous decision of the jurors.

    In 2007 Cree Narrative Memory was published, which was nominated for book of the year at the Anskohk Aboriginal Literature Awards. In the fall of 2008, he published his second book of poetry entitled Gabriel’s Beach. He also recently published Indigenous Poetics in Canada (Wilfrid Laurier University Press) for which he received the Gabrielle Roy Prize for literary theory and criticism.

    The following books by Neal McLeod are in Press: mitêwâcimowina: Indigenous Science Fiction and Speculative Storytelling (Theytus Books), 100 Days of Cree (University of Regina Press), and cîhcêwêsin: new poetry from indigenous saskatchewan (Hagios Press). He is also working on: the life story of Noel Starblanket (Cree leader), a book of poetry called The Book of Ayâs, a retranslation of Plains Cree Texts, and a history of the Piapot Cree First Nation.

    Neal currently lives in Kinistino, Saskatchewan.

  • Rolland Nadjiwon is potowatomi, born on the Cape Croker Indian reservation.

    Forsome years his family has been relocated to Sault Ste. Marie with his mother’s people, the ojibway.

    ‘Seven deer dancing’ is Rolland’s first collection of poems. However, his poems, essays and short stories havebeen published in magazines in Canada and the United States.

  • On behalf of the entire Kegedonce Press family we send our heartfelt condolences to Sharron's loved ones. Sharron will always be close in our hearts. Travel well with the ancestors. - Kegedonce Press

    Sharron Proulx-Turner was a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Originally from the Ottawa river valley, Sharron was from Mohawk, Wyandat, Algonquin, Ojibwe, Mi'kmaw, French and Irish ancestry. Sharron was a two-spirit nokomis, mom, writer and community worker. Where the Rivers Join (1995), a memoir (Beckylane), was a finalist for the Edna Staebler Award for creative non-fiction, and what the auntys say (2002), was a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Prize for poetry.

    Sharron’s work appeared in several anthologies, including Oxford Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, Crisp Blue Edges, Tales from Moccasin Avenue, Double Lives: Writing and Motherhood, and in literary journals, including Gatherings, Yellow Medicine Review and West Coast Line. Sharron had two more recent books, a mixed-genre-historical-fiction called, she walks for days/ inside a thousand eyes/ a two-spirit story (2008), and a book of dedication poems called she is reading her blanket with her hands (2008).

  • Tunchai Redvers, known to spirit as White Feather Woman, is a two-spirit social justice warrior, writer, and wanderer belonging to Deninu K’ue First Nation. With Dene, Métis and Scottish roots on her maternal side and English, Italian and Irish roots on her paternal side, she was born and raised in Treaty 8 territory, Northwest Territories. Now living in southern Ontario, she is the co-founder of We Matter, a national organization dedicated to Indigenous youth hope and life promotion. Recognized nationally and internationally for her work, her advocacy and writing centers the reclamation and indigenization of identity, mental health and healing. She spends most of her time resisting, loving, and travelling across territories, and considers herself a nomad just like her ancestors. She finds safety in the words: be proud of who you are, be thankful for those who love and guide you, and never forget where you came from.

  • One of Canada's leading Aboriginal writers whose five collections of poetry have earned him both a national and international audience. He is known for his unique and dynamic reading style that blends oral storytelling, song, spoken word and the Cree language. His maternal ancestry can be traced back to the fur trade and to the Métis community of Kinosota, Manitoba, which was established in 1828 by the Hudson's Bay Company.

    His paternal ancestry is Jewish, Polish and German that is reflective of the immigrant experience to Canada at the turn of the century. His poetry and memoir, Thunder Through My Veins ( Harper Collins, 1999) is taught at numerous universities and colleges throughout Canada and the U.S., and his work has appeared in many anthologies. He was the subject of a feature length documentary, Singing Home The Bones: A Poet Becomes Himself (The Maystreet Group, 2007) that aired on CHUM TV, BRAVO!, APTN, and the Saskatchewan Television Network. He has served as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Manitoba and Memorial University of Newfoundland.

    His latest collection, Kipocihkan: Poems New & Selected (Nightwood Editions) and the republication of I Knew Two Metis Women, along with the Companion CD (Gabriel Dumont Institute) will be released in Spring 2009. He currently lives in Maple Ridge, B.C.

    Scofield's new edition of Love Medicine and One Song was released by Kegedonce Press in Spring 2009, featuring an introduction by Warren Car

  • Leo Yerxa was an award-winning writer, illustrator and artist. His first book, Last Leaf First Snowflake to Fall, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Illustration and Ancient Thunder won the Governor General’s Award and many other accolades. Leo was born on the Little Eagle Reserve in northern Ontario. He studied graphic arts at Algonquin College in Ottawa, fine arts at the University of Waterloo, and has worked with Tom Hill, a respected figure in Indigenous art in Canada. Leo was the first Indigenous person in Canada to design coins for the Royal Canadian Mint incorporating Indigenous design elements and First Nations athletes (Series IV 1975 Olympic Coins, Montreal Olympics 1976). A set of his murals can be seen at the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre on the Rainy River First Nations National Historic Site in Ontario. Leo provided illustrations for Halfling Spring by Joanne Arnott, and Spirit Horses by Al Hunter. He passed away in 2017.