Michelle Good

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]

Michelle Good
Occupation	Author, poet, lawyer
Nationality	Cree, Canadian
Alma mater	University of British Columbia
Genre	Fiction, Poetry, Essay
Notable works	Five Little Indians, Defying Gravity, "Truth Telling: Seven Conversations about Indigenous Life in Canada"
Notable awards	HarperCollins/UBC Best New Fiction Prize, 2020
Website
www.michellegood.ca

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 Great Grandmother's 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]

Career

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] The book was set to be adapted as a 2021 limited television series by producer Martin Katz.^{[12][13][needs update]}

Truth Telling is the second book written by 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.^[14]

Awards and Nominations

Five Little Indians literary awards

Year	Award		Result	Ref.
2020	Governor General's Awards	English-language fiction	Won	[15][16]
	HarperCollins/UBC Best New Fiction Prize	—	Won	[17]
	Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize	—	Shortlisted	[18]
	Scotiabank Giller Prize	—	Longlisted	[19][20]
2021	Amazon.ca First Novel Award	—	Won	[21]
	Amnesty International Book Club	Reader's Choice	Selection	[22]
	BC and Yukon Book Prize	Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize	Shortlisted	[23]
		Jim Deva Prize	Shortlisted	[24]
	City of Vancouver Book Award	—	Won	[25]
	Forest of Reading Evergreen Award	—	Won	[26]
	Indigenous Voices Award	Published Prose in English: Fiction	Shortlisted	[27]
	Kobo Emerging Writer Prize	Fiction	Won	[28][29]
2022	Canada Reads	Written Book	Won	[30]

Biblio

• Five Little Indians (2020)
• Truth Telling: Seven Conversations About Indigenous Life in Canada (2023)

Poetry

• —— (2016). "Defying Gravity". In Humphreys, Helen; Peacock, Molly (eds.). The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2016. Tightrope Books. ISBN 9781988040103.
• The Best of the Best Canadian Poetry in English: The Tenth Anniversary Edition. Published on November 1, 2017 by Tightrope Books. Editors Anita Lahey and Molly Peacock.^[31][32]

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.^[33][34]
• Best Canadian Essay 2023. Published in December 13, 2022 by Bilblioasis. Editor Mireille Silcoff.^[34][35]

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^[34]