Lee Maracle
Encyclopedia

Early life

Born in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, she grew up in the neighbouring city of North Vancouver
North Vancouver, British Columbia
There are two municipalities in the Greater Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada, that use the name North Vancouver. These are:*The City of North Vancouver...

 and attended Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...

. She was one of the first Aboriginal people
Aboriginal peoples in Canada
Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....

 to be published in the early 1970s.

Career

Maracle is one of the most prolific aboriginal authors in Canada and a recognized authority on issues pertaining to aboriginal people and aboriginal literature. She is an award-winning poet, novelist, performance storyteller, scriptwriter, actor and keeper/mythmaker among the Stó:lō
Stó:lo
The Sto:lo , alternately written as Stó:lō, Stó:lô or Stó:lõ and historically as Staulo or Stahlo, and historically known and commonly referred to in ethnographic literature as the Fraser River Indians or Lower Fraser Salish, are a group of First Nations peoples inhabiting the Fraser Valley of...

 people.

Maracle was one of the founders of the En’owkin International School of Writing in Penticton, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 and the cultural director of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre
Centre for Indigenous Theatre
Founded in 1974 by the late James H. Buller, the Native Theatre School was started with the vision that Aboriginal people could create change in Canada through theatre. Buller was a noted opera and musical comedy singer....

 in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

.

Maracle has given hundreds of speeches on political, historical, and feminist sociological
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 topics related to native 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.

Maracle has taught at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, University of Waterloo
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo is a comprehensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles, and has since grown to an institution of more than 30,000 students, faculty, and staff...

, Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University
is a public liberal arts college located in Ashland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1926, it was formerly known as Southern Oregon College and Southern Oregon State College . SOU offers criminology, natural sciences, including environmental science, Shakespearean studies and theatre arts programs...

 and has served as professor of Canadian culture at Western Washington University
Western Washington University
Western Washington University is one of six state-funded, four-year universities of higher education in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in Bellingham and offers bachelor's and master's degrees.-History:...

. She currently lives in Toronto, teaching at the University of Toronto First Nations House. She most recently was the writer-in-residence at the University of Guelph
University of Guelph
The University of Guelph, also known as U of G, is a comprehensive public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College, the Macdonald Institute, and the Ontario Veterinary College...

.

Fiction

  • Sojourner's Truth and Other Stories - 1990
  • Sundogs - 1991
  • Ravensong - (Press Gang Publishers
    Press Gang Publishers
    Press Gang Publishing was a [feminist]] printing and publishing collective active in [Vancouver, BC, Canada between the early 1970s and 2002.-Early history:...

    )1993
  • Daughters are Forever - 2002
  • Will's Garden - 2002
  • First Wives Club: Coast Salish Style - (Theytus Books Publishing) 2010

Non-Fiction

  • Bobbi Lee: Indian Rebel - 1975 (revised 1990)
  • I am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism - 1988; Press Gang Publishers
    Press Gang Publishers
    Press Gang Publishing was a [feminist]] printing and publishing collective active in [Vancouver, BC, Canada between the early 1970s and 2002.-Early history:...

     1996
  • Oratory: Coming to Theory - 1990

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
    Sky Lee
    Sky Lee is a Canadian artist and novelist.Lee has published both feminist fiction and non-fiction and identifies as lesbian.-Personal life:...

     and Daphne Marlatt
    Daphne Marlatt
    Daphne Marlatt, née Buckle, CM , is a Canadian poet who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia....

    ) Press Gang Publishers
    Press Gang Publishers
    Press Gang Publishing was a [feminist]] printing and publishing collective active in [Vancouver, BC, Canada between the early 1970s and 2002.-Early history:...

  • 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
    American Book Award
    The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...

     1999, Before Columbus Foundation
    Before Columbus Foundation
    The Before Columbus Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed, Victor Hernández Cruz, Shawn Wong and Rudolfo Anaya to be "a multi-ethnic organizing dedicated to promoting a pan-cultural view of America," especially through the promotion of multicultural writers.One of...

    )
  • 75 Readings Plus
  • Making a Difference: Canadian Multicultural Literature

Essays and criticism on the writing of Lee Maracle

  • Contemporary American Indian Literatures and the Oral Tradition Susan Berry Brill de Ramirez
  • Contemporary American Indian Writing: Unsettling Literature Dee Horne
  • "Raven's Plague: Pollution and Disease in Lee Maracle's Ravensong" Judith Leggatt in "Mosaic" 33.4. December 2000. pp. 163–178
  • "Storying the Borderlands: Liminal Spaces and Narrative Strategies in Lee Maracle's Ravensong" Karen E. Macfarlane in "Creating Community: A Roundtable on Canadian Aboriginal Literature" ed. Renate Eigenbrod and Jo-Ann Episkenew. 2002, Theytus Books. pp 109–123.

Notable family

  • Columpa Bobb
    Columpa Bobb
    Columpa C. Bobb is a Canadian photographer, actress, playwright, poet and teacher of Coastal Salish descent. She has been performing, writing plays, and teaching for 20 years....

    , daughter (actor/playwright/poet)
  • Sid Bobb
    Sid Bobb
    -References:...

    , son (actor)
  • Chief Dan George, grandfather (Salish Chief/actor)
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