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2025 ÂNSKOHK INDIGENOUS LITERATURE FESTIVAL

The Ânskohk Indigenous Literature Festival was created to showcase the diversity of writing by Indigenous authors, to educate the general population about the richness of Indigenous literature, and to promote further understanding of Indigenous peoples. The Ânskohk Festival is designed to appeal to a broad audience.

2025 ÂNSKOHK INDIGENOUS LITERATURE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

	Allyson Stevenson Allyson Stevenson is a Métis scholar and adoptee whose family migrated out of Red River in the 1870s, establishing deep roots in Kinistino, Saskatchewan/Kisiskâciwan. Dr. Stevenson is an Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies and is the Gabriel Dumont Institute Chair in Métis Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Her work focuses on Prairie Indigenous diplomacy, the history of decolonizing the care of Métis children in Saskatchewan, and Indigenous women’s political organizing.
	Arnolda Dufour Bowes A dynamic Métis woman originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, her first book, 20.12m : A Short Story Collection of a Life Lived as a Road Allowance Métis, received several major awards in 2022: the Danuta Gleed Literary Award from The Writers Union of Canada and the international High Plains Award for Best Indigenous Writer. It also won the Saskatchewan Books Indigenous Publishing Award. Her first children’s book, Maggie Lou, Firefox, was published in fall 2023, illustrated by Karlene Harvey. The follow-up, Maggie Lou Meets Her Match, was published in 2025.
	Cheryl Troupe Cheryl Troupe is a citizen of the Métis Nation—Saskatchewan and is a member of Gabriel Dumont Local #11 in Saskatoon. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research centres on twentieth-century Métis communities in Western Canada and merges Indigenous research methodologies with Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS) to focus on the intersections of land, gender, kinship, and stories. She is the author of Putting Down Roots: Métis Agency, Land Use, and Women’s Food Labour in a Qu’Appelle Valley Road Allowance Community and co-editor and contributor to Métis Matriarchs: Agents of Transition.
	Cody Caetano Cody Caetano is a writer and literary agent based in Toronto. His first book, a memoir called Half-Bads in White Regalia, came out through Penguin Canada’s Hamish Hamilton imprint in 2022 and will come out with And Other Stories in the UK in 2026. It was an instant national bestseller and received many awards and recognitions. He recently contributed to A Steady Brightness of Being: Truths, Wisdom, and Love from Celebrated Indigenous Voices.
	Colleen Charlette Colleen Charlette is a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. She was born and raised in Flin Flon, Manitoba. Colleen has been a board member of the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Writers’ Circle Incorporated for twelve years. After the career directions of administrative assistant and fashion designer, Colleen’s pursuit of creative occupation led her to poetry. Her poetry can be found in Mihko Kiskisiwin—Blood Memory. Colleen resides in Saskatoon.
	Conor Kerr Conor is a national award-winning (and losing) Metis/Ukrainian writer and bird hunter living in amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton). Born in Saskatoon, raised in Buffalo Pound Lake and Drayton Valley, he is a member of the Metis Nation of Alberta. His Ukrainian family are Settlers on Treaty 4 Territory. Conor is the author of the novels, Avenue of Champions (2021), Prairie Edge (2024) and the poetry collections, An Explosion of Feathers (2021), Old Gods (2023), and the poetic novella Beaver Hills Forever (2025). He has a forthcoming novel, Duck Blind (2027).
	Cort Dogniez Cort Dogniez is a proud Métis man born and raised in Saskatoon. Cort worked in the education field for 41 years as a classroom teacher and administrator. His first book, Road to La Prairie Ronde was released in 2020 and received two nominations from the Saskatchewan Book Awards. His second book, Growing Up Métis: Stories of Resiliency was released in May, 2024. Both were published by Gabriel Dumont Institute Press. Cort was honoured to have three of his short stories included in a 2024 issue of Folklore magazine entitled, Métis Roogaroo and Superstition Stories. Cort is an oral storyteller and is proud to share stories told to him by his kohkom, Clara Delorme, as well as other Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers.
	David Garneau David Garneau (Métis) is a Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Regina. He is a painter, curator, and writer who engages creative and critical expressions of Indigenous contemporary ways of knowing, being, and doing. In 2023, he received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Art: Outstanding Achievement and was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada. Garneau has curated more than two dozen exhibitions in Canada and internationally. He has given keynotes in Australia, New Zealand, and throughout Canada on re/conciliation, museums, Indigenous contemporary and public art. His painting exhibition, Dark Chapters tours Canada in 2025-28. Dark Chapters: Reading the Still Lives of David Garneau, a collection of poems and essays by eighteen authors (University of Regina Press), launched March 2025. Concordia University Press is publishing a collection of his critical texts in 2026.
	Jade McDougall Jade (J. D.) McDougall (she/they) is a Two-Spirit Métis originally from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, whose family has lived in the Southbranch region since the 19th century. Jade now calls Saskatoon home, and has been working as an Assistant Professor in the Indigenous Studies Department at the University of Saskatchewan. She has illustrated two books by Cort Dogniez, Road to La Prairie Ronde and Growing Up Métis: Stories of Resiliency. She recently contribute a chapter to Métis Matriarchs: Agents of Transition.
	Jesse Rae Archibald-Barber Jesse Rae Archibald-Barber is from oskana kâ-asastêki and is an associate professor of Indigenous literatures at First Nations University of Canada in Regina. He is the editor of kisiskâciwan: Indigenous Voices from Where the River Flows Swiftly and the writer and producer of the “Making Treaty 4” performance project. Jesse’s epic narrative, The Star Poems explores the black hole of colonial history—Residential Schools, the loss of the father, youth suicide—and the vital role of women in reclaiming our traditional knowledge, the teachings that stitch together the fabric of the universe.
	Kaitlin Littlechild Kaitlin Littlechild is the founder of both Kaitlin Littlechild Editing and Juno Communications. She has honed her skills in developmental editing, copy-editing, proofreading, and authenticity reading, working with clients from various disciplines, including academic, scientific, fiction, and nonfiction writing. She is committed to furthering the rights and interests of Indigenous Peoples in Canada through her work. She has facilitated numerous sessions and workshops for Editors Canada, where she is a member of the board. She is the current Executive Director of the Indigenous Editors Association.
	Kevin Wesaquate Kevin Wesaquate is a spoken word poet, storyteller and visual artist. Kevin is the founder of the Saskatoon Indigenous Poets Society, with the hopes of building a larger community of artists through it. Kevin has earned the title of Slam Champion at Saskatoon’s Spoken Word Poetry Finals and represented Saskatoon at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in 2017. He continues to practice painting and filmmaking. Some of his work was featured in We Needi Graffiti and the One Take Super 8 Film Festival. A strong community leader in Saskatoon, he is from Piapot First Nation and the proud father of three sons and one daughter. Kevin is a contributor to Mihko Kiskisiwin—Blood Memory.
	Kevin Lewis Dr. Kevin Lewis is a nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) instructor, researcher and writer from Ministikwan Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 Territory. He has worked with higher learning institutions within the Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta in the areas of Cree Language Development and Instructional methodologies. His research interests include language and policy development, second language teaching methodologies, teacher education programming, and environmental education. For the past 15 years, Dr. Lewis has been working with community schools in promoting land and language-based education and is founder of kâniyâsihk Culture Camps a non-profit organization focused on holistic community well-being and co-developer of Land-Based Cree Immersion School kâ-nêyâsihk mîkiwâhpa.
	Leah Marie Dorion Leah Marie Dorion is an interdisciplinary Métis artist raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. A teacher, painter, filmmaker and published writer, Leah views her Métis heritage as providing her with a unique bridge for knowledge between all people. She has numerous creative projects to her credit, including academic papers for the Royal Commission of Aboriginal Peoples, books for children, gallery showings of her art works, and numerous video documentaries that showcase Métis culture and history. Leah’s paintings honour the spiritual strength of Aboriginal women and the sacred feminine. Leah believes that women play a key role in passing on vital knowledge for all of humanity which is deeply reflected in her artistic practice. She believes women are the first teachers to the next generation.
	Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley Mangeshig is a multi-disciplinary Anishinaabe artist from Barrie, Ontario and a member of Wasauksing First Nation. He currently resides in the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsliel-Waututh people (Vancouver, BC). He is an award winning children’s book illustrator and author whose work explores themes of language revitalization, ancestral knowledge sharing, and memory. His author/illustrator debut was released in Fall 2024 titled Boozhoo!/Hello!, published with Groundwood books. Another Author/Illustrator storybook, The Trickster Shadow, was published in September 2025. Mangeshig has received the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards, The Indigenous Voices Award (Works in an Indigenous Language), The Blue Spruce Award, and has been shortlisted for The Governor General’s Literary Award for his illustration work.
	Marilyn Dumont Marilyn Dumont is a multi-award winning Métis writer who was born and raised on a Métis Road Allowance in small town Alberta. She is the author of A Really Good Brown Girl, green girl dreams Mountains, that tongued belonging, The Pemmican Eaters, and Reclamation and Resurgence The Poetry of Marilyn Dumont (2024). Marilyn’s work has been widely anthologized, represented in artwork and poetry installations. She has received the Alberta Lieutenant Governor General’s Distinguished Artist’s Award and the League of Canadian Poets Lifetime Membership Award.
	Nadine Ryan Nadine Ryan is a visual artist an academic. She received her MA in Social Anthropology from York University in Toronto, Ontario. She is a freelance editor and writer. Nadine worked in the Not-For-Profit world, most recently as an arts administrator for the Indigenous Editors Association. She returned to graduate school to pursue a PhD in Human Geography at the University of Toronto. Her doctoral research brings together Indigenous Knowledges of and approaches to death and dying to consider the relational dimensions across lands, stories, and experiences.
	Teedly Linklater Teedly Teresa Mariea Linklater is from Thunderchild First Nation. Teedly is a mother and is active in the community, spending a lot of time as a volunteer sewing at the White Buffalo Youth Lodge, helping out with the Indigenous Radio Show at CFCR, singing, drumming at community events, and being apart at the Indigenous School Council at Mount Royal Collegiate. She lives a traditional life, free of drugs, tobacco and alcohol. She learns the language through song and elders in the community.
	Tonia Laird Tonia Laird is a Michif writer from Treaty 6 territory. Her work is included in multiple publications including literary magazines, fantasy and comic book anthologies, and video games, Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, mobile game, Everlove: Rose, and the interactive novel, Poster Girl. Her first novel, Seventhblade, was released in June, 2025 by ECW Press. Tonia’s most recent stint in video games was as a Lorekeeper and world-builder at Thought Pennies Entertainment.
	Warren Cariou Warren Cariou was born in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan into a family of Métis and European heritage. Though he has lived away from Meadow Lake for many years, his art and academic work maintains a focus on the cultural and environmental questions that have preoccupied the people of his homeland. His books, films, photography, and scholarly research explore themes of community, environment, orality and belonging in the Canadian west, with particular focus on the relationships between Indigenous stories and the land. Warren was the lead editor of the second edition of Elements of Indigenous Style.
	Wilfred Burton Author Wilfred Burton, a proud Michif, grew up in the Midnight Lake area of Saskatchewan. He was an elementary teacher, university instructor, and literacy coordinator for over 30 years. He is currently retired and spends his time writing, reading, gardening, beading, rug hooking and doing lots of volunteer work in the community. He is a published author of several Métis specific picture books. His love of storytelling, fiddle music and dance came as gifts from his mother, Georgina Nolin. A gift he loves to share with others through presentations and writing.