Michelle Good is a Cree writer, poet, and lawyer from Canada, most noted for her debut novel Five Little Indians.^[1] She is a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan.^[2] Good has an MFA and a law degree from the University of British Columbia and, as a lawyer, advocated for residential-school survivors.^[3][4]

Early life and education

Good is a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation.^[5][6] She was impacted by the 60s scoop and spent time in the foster care system.^[7] Her great-grandmother participated in the 1885 uprising at Frog Lake and her uncle was Big Bear.^[5] Good graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative writing in 2014.^[6] The first draft of her debut novel, Five Little Indians, was her graduate thesis project.^[6] She began to practice law in her 40's, sharing the histories of residential schools in courtrooms. ^[8] Good received an Honorary Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, from Simon Fraser University on October 7, 2022.^[9][10]

Works

Five Little Indians

Five Little Indians is a story about five British Columbia residential-school survivors.^[11] Although the novel itself is fiction, some of the episodes were based on real experiences of her mother and grandmother, who were both survivors of Canada's residential school system.^[1] Published in 2020, the novel was longlisted for the Giller Prize^[12] and shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.^[13] Now listed it as one of the top 10 novels of 2020.^[14]

In 2020, the book won the HarperCollins/UBC Best New Fiction Prize.^[15] Then, in 2021, the book won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction at the 2020 Governor General's Awards,^[16] the Amazon.ca First Novel Award,^[17] the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize,^[18] and the Canada Reads 2022.^[9] Also in 2021, the book will be adapted as a limited television series by producer Martin Katz.^[19][20]

Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada

Truth Telling is the second book of Good. it is a collection of essays on historical and modern experiences of indigenous in Canada.  It covers wide variety of topics from life of indigenous people to modern social institution in Canada. Published on May 30, 2023, and finalist for the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy.^[21]

Poetry

• Defying Gravity published in The Best Canadian Poetry 2016. Published on Oct 1, 2016 by Tightrope Books. Guest editor Helen Humphreys, editor Molly Peacock, and series editor Anita Lahy.^[22][23]
• The Best of the Best Canadian Poetry, A Tenth Anniversary Edition.^[24] Published on November 1, 2017 by Tightrope Books. Editors Anita Lahey and Molly Peacock.^[25]

Essays

• A Tradition Of Violence published in Keetsahnak: Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters. Published in 2018 by University of Alberta Press. Editors Kim Anderson, Maria Campbell, and Christi Belcourt.^[26][23]
• Best Canadian Essay 2023. Published in December 13, 2022 by Bilblioasis. Editor Mireille Silcoff.^[23][27]

Journal

• Gatherings Volume VII: The En'owkin Journal of First North American Peoples. Published in 1996 by Theytus Books. Editors Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm and Jeannette Armstrong^[23]

Awards and Nominations

"The Evergreen Award" issued by Forest of Reading program for Five Little Indians in 2021^[9]

"The City of Vancouver Book of the Year Award" issued for Five Little Indians in 2021^[9]

"The Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes", issued by BC and Yukon Book Prizes for Five Little Indians in 2021^[9][28]