Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm
Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is a member of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, on the Saugeen Peninsula in Ontario. She is an Assistant Professor, teaching Creative Writing, Indigenous Literatures, and Oral Traditions in the English Department at the University of Toronto, Scarborough.
She has previously 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.
Kateri 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. Her collaborative recording, A Constellation of Bones, was nominated for a 2008 Canadian Aboriginal Music Award.
She served as 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 co-organized the first Indigenous Comics Symposium in 2021.
Kateri is also the founder, publisher, and art director for Kegedonce Press. (Re)Generation: The Poetry of Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, selected and edited by Dallas Hunt, was released in August 2021. She is currently completing work on a new collection of poetry and a collection of humorous short stories.
Renée Abram
Renée’s clan is Wolf Clan from Oneida of the Thames. She lives in Owen Sound and is the proud mom of one adult son.
She started working with Kegedonce Press in 1999 after leaving a position with the Ontario Native Literacy Coalition, where she served as executive director for over nine years. At that time, Kegedonce Press was just beginning to build a publishing program under the guidance of Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (Owner/Publisher) and establishing itself as an Indigenous publishing company.
As Publishing Manager at Kegedonce, Renée was initially responsible for all areas of company operations. Her role has since evolved with the addition of a Marketing Coordinator and an Administrative Assistant.
In the early years, Renée also took on additional contract positions to broaden her experience. She worked with the local art gallery as a freelance grant writer and volunteer coordinator, and she is an active member of several community committees.
Most of all, she is forever grateful that Kateri invited her to be part of Kegedonce Press all those years ago. Renée is honoured to have contributed to the accomplishments Kegedonce has achieved over the years as a small Indigenous press.
Christy Telford
Christy joined Kegedonce Press in the winter of 2013. As the Administrative Assistant with responsibility for bookkeeping, her long career in various financial areas: Financial Institutions to Art Gallery to Publishing—fits well.
In her spare time, Christy loves to read and to work with women, who, like herself, have worked hard to overcome some of life’s pitfalls. As to looking ahead—Who Knows!!!
Richard-Yves Sitoski
Richard-Yves Sitoski is a poet, songwriter, and performance artist of settler descent who lives in Owen Sound, on the lands of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (Treaty Territory 45½). He served as the Poet Laureate of Owen Sound from 2019 to 2023.
His poems and reviews have appeared in literary magazines across Canada, including PRISM, The Antigonish Review, Arc, The Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire, Train, and CAROUSEL. He is also the Artistic Director of the Words Aloud Poetry Festival.
Richard-Yves makes sounds unheard since the Cretaceous with his guitars as part of the folk duo Deep Blue Honey, alongside his wife Mary. He also belongs to a cat named Banjo, who faithfully wakes him every day at 3 a.m.