Why Indigenous Literatures Matter

Poet and scholar Gregory Scofield joins Jennifer and Waubgeshig to talk about Halfbreed by Maria Campbell. Originally published in 1973 and widely considered a classic of Indigenous literature, Campbell's memoir about her life as a Métis woman in Canada was restored and re-released in 2019.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/610927/halfbreed-by-maria-campbell/9780771024092
More on Gregory:
Gregory Scofield is Michif of Cree, Scottish and European-Immigrant descent who’s ancestry can be traced to the Métis community of Kinosota, Manitoba. He has taught Creative Writing and First Nations and Métis Literature at Laurentian University, Brandon University, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and the Alberta University of the Arts. He currently holds the position of Associate professor in the Department of Writing at the University of Victoria. Scofield won the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 1994 for his debut collection, The Gathering: Stones for the Medicine Wheel, and has since published seven further volumes of poetry including, Witness, I am. He has served as writer-in residence at the University of Manitoba, the University of Winnipeg and Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is the recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), and most recently the Writers’ Trust of Canada Latner Poetry Prize (2016) that is awarded to a mid-career poet in recognition of a remarkable body of work. Further to writing and teaching, Scofield is also a skilled bead-worker, and he creates in the medium of traditional Métis arts. He continues to assemble a collection of mid to late 19th century Cree-Métis artifacts, which are used as learning and teaching pieces. Scofield’s first memoir Thunder Through My Veins (Doubleday Canada/Anchor Books) was re-published Fall 2019.