Lee Maracle

Lee Maracle, OC (born July 2, 1950) is a Canadian poet and Sto:lo author. She speaks out as a critic of the treatment of Indigenous people by the Canadian state, and she particularly highlights the issues relating to Indigenous women.[1]

Lee Maracle
BornJuly 2, 1950
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
NationalitySto:lo (Canadian)
Children[4 children]
RelativesChief Dan George

Early life

The granddaughter of Tsleil-Waututh Chief Dan George, Maracle was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1950[2] and grew up in the neighbouring city of North Vancouver as one of the first Indigenous children to be allowed to attend a normal state (public) school.[3] She dropped out of school and went to California where she did various jobs that included producing films and doing stand-up comedy.[1] She returned to Canada and attended Simon Fraser University.[2] She was one of the first Aboriginal people to be published in the early 1970s.[1]

Career

Maracle is one of the most prolific Indigenous authors in Canada and a recognized authority on issues pertaining to Indigenous people and Indigenous literature.[3] She is an award-winning poet, novelist, performance storyteller, scriptwriter, actor and keeper/mythmaker among the Stó:lō people.

Maracle was one of the founders of the En'owkin International School of Writing[1] in Penticton, British Columbia and the cultural director of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre in Toronto, Ontario.

Maracle has given hundreds of speeches on political, historical, and feminist sociological topics related to Indigenous people, and conducted dozens of workshops on personal and cultural reclamation. She has served as a consultant on First Nations' self-government and has an extensive history in community development. She has been described as "a walking history book" and an international expert on Canadian First Nations culture and history. Her views (as broadcast 18 May 2014 on CBC Radio) are that the Canadian people (not the government, because Canada is an "illegitimate state") should accept responsibility for cultural genocide and the theft of the whole land from the Indigenous people.[3]

Maracle has taught at the University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Southern Oregon University and has served as professor of Canadian culture at Western Washington University. She currently lives in Toronto, teaching at the University of Toronto First Nations House. She was the writer-in-residence at the University of Guelph.[1]

In 2017, Maracle was presented the Bonham Centre Award from The Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies, University of Toronto, for her contributions to the advancement and education of issues around sexual identification.[4]

Her newest poetry book, Hope Matters, was written in conjunction with her daughters Columpa Bobb and Tania Carter, and was published in 2019.[5]

Bibliography

Fiction
  • Sojourner's Truth and Other Stories – 1990
  • Sundogs – 1991
  • Ravensong – (Press Gang Publishers) 1993
  • Daughters are Forever – 2002
  • Will's Garden – 2002
  • First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style – (Theytus Books Publishing) 2010
  • Celia's Song. Toronto, ON: Cormorant Books. 2014. ISBN 978-1-77086-416-0.

Non-fiction
  • Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel – 1975 (revised 1990)
  • I am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism – 1988; Press Gang Publishers 1996
  • Oratory: Coming to Theory – 1990
  • My Conversations with Canadians – 2017

Poetry
  • Bent Box – 2000
  • Talking to the Diaspora - 2015

Collaborations
  • My Home As I Remember
  • We Get Our Living Like Milk from the Land
  • Telling It: Women and Language Across Cultures – 1990 (with Betsy Warland, Sky Lee and Daphne Marlatt) Press Gang Publishers
  • Reconciliation: The En'owkin Journal of First North American Peoples Vol 13

Anthologies
  • Gatherings, The En'owkin Journal of First North American Peoples Vol 2
  • Gatherings, The En'owkin Journal of First North American Peoples Vol 3
  • Gatherings, The En'owkin Journal of First North American Peoples Vol 10
  • Satin Shorts
  • Returning the Gaze: Essays on Racism, Feminism and Politics
  • Giving Back/First Nations Perspective on Cultural Practice
  • Bertha
  • An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English
  • Frictions: Stories by Women
  • First Peoples Voices
  • Children of the Dragonfly
  • Our Bit of Truth: An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature
  • Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native American Women's Writings of North America
  • First Fish, First People: Salmon Tales of the North Pacific Rim – 1999 (American Book Award 1999, Before Columbus Foundation)
  • 75 Readings Plus
  • Making a Difference: Canadian Multicultural Literature

Essays and criticism on the writing of Lee Maracle

Notable family

References
  1. "Lee Maracle". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  2. "Lee Manacle". IPL.org. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  3. "Truth & Reconciliation: What's Next?". CBC. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  4. "Decolonizing sexuality: U of T recognizes Indigenous educators and advocates for sexual diversity". University of Toronto News. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  5. "20 works of Canadian poetry to check out in spring 2019". CBC Books, January 25, 2019.
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