Michelle Good

Michelle Good was born in British Columbia to a Cree mother and a French and English father, both of whom had roots in Saskatchewan. Through her mother’s side, Good is a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Her family tree includes Big Bear, a 19th-centuy Cree chief notable for his resistance to signing a treaty by which the Canadian government extended its claim on Cree Nation lands, as well as for his participation in an armed rebellion against the Canadian government by Cree and the Assiniboine in the late 1880s. Although Good escaped the Canadian residential school system herself, both her mother and her maternal grandmother were survivors, and at the age of 13, Good was taken from her parents and placed into the foster care system as part of efforts in the 1960s to assimilate Indigenous children. After finishing her high school equivalent, she spent many years working with Indigenous organizations before pursuing a law degree in her early 40s. In her career as a lawyer, she advocated for and represented residential school survivors for 14 years—while also pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. She earned her MFA in 2014 at the age of 58. In addition to Five Little Indians—which won multiple awards on its publication—Good has published a book of essays about the experiences of Indigenous people in Canada, as well all as many individual poems, essays, and articles.