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BIO NOTE
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LIFE
Gregory Scofield, born in Maple Ridge, British Columbia in 1966, is a Métis poet, playwright, educator, and social worker of Cree, European, and Jewish ancestry. His work combines oral storytelling, spoken word, song, and the Cree language, and draws heavily from his personal experience. He writes on topics as diverse as family history, street life, poverty, and racial identity, and is a leader in Indigenous gay literature and activism. In 2013, he was the inaugural writer/storyteller-in-residence at the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture. Gregory Scofield visited the Canadian Literature Centre to deliver his Brown Bag Lunch reading on December 1, 2010.
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AWARDS2013
Received Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Governor General of Canada for Contributions to Canadian Literature for The Gathering: Stones from the Medicine Wheel1998
Received Confederation Poets Prize for Best Poem Published in ARC Poetry Magazine for “He Is”1996
Received Canadian Authors Association Air Canada Award for Most Promising Young Writer1994
Received Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize for Best Collection of Poetry by a Resident of British Columbia for
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PRIMARY BIBLIOGRAPHY
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COLLECTIONS OF POETRYScofield, Gregory. The Gathering: Stones for the Medicine Wheel. Polestar, 1993.Scofield, Gregory. I Knew Two Métis Women: The Lives of Dorothy Scofield and Georgina Houle Young. Polestar, 1999.Scofield, Gregory. Singing Home the Bones. Polestar, 2005.Scofield, Gregory. kipocihkân: Poems New and Selected. Nightwood Editions, 2009.Scofield, Gregory. Love Medicine and One Song: Sâkihtowin-Maskihkiy Êkwa Pêyak-Nikamowin. Kegedonce P, 2009.Scofield, Gregory. Louis: The Heretic Poems. Nightwood Editions, 2011.
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LONG NON-FICTIONScofield, Gregory. Thunder Through my Veins: Memories of a Métis Childhood. Harper Perennial Canada, 2000.Scofield Gregory and Amy Briley. Wâpikwaniy: A Beginner’s Guide to Métis Floral Beadwork. Gabriel Dumont Institute, 2011.Scofield, Gregory and Amy Briley. Maskisina: A Guide to Northern Style Métis Moccasins. Gabriel Dumont Institute, 2013.
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POEMSScofield, Gregory. “Call Me Brother.” Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poems. Edited by Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane, Harbour, 1995, pp. 157-8.Scofield, Gregory. “Talking Because I Have To.” Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poems, edited by Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane, Harbour, 1995, p. 158.Scofield, Gregory. “That Squawman Went Free.” Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poems, edited by Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane, Harbour, 1995, pp. 158-9.Scofield, Gregory. “Wrong Image.” Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poems, edited by Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane, Harbour, 1995, pp. 159-61.Scofield, Gregory. “Kohkum’s Lullaby.” Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poems, edited by Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane, Harbour, 1995, p. 161.Scofield, Gregory. “Nothing Sacred.” Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, edited by Daniel David Moses and Terry Goldie, 2nd edition, Oxford UP, 1998, p. 462.Scofield, Gregory. “ yahkwêw’s Lodge.” Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, edited by Daniel David Moses and Terry Goldie, 2nd edition, Oxford UP, 1998, pp. 462-3.Scofield, Gregory. “Promises.” Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, edited by Daniel David Moses and Terry Goldie, 2nd edition, Oxford UP, 1998, pp. 463-4.Scofield, Gregory. “Cycle (of the black lizard).” Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, edited by Daniel David Moses and Terry Goldie, 2nd edition, Oxford UP, 1998, pp. 464-6.Scofield, Gregory. “How Many White People Noticed (and recounted the scene over dinner).” Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, edited by Daniel David Moses and Terry Goldie, 2nd edition, Oxford UP, 1998, pp. 466-7.Scofield, Gregory. “Warrior Mask.” Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, edited by Daniel David Moses and Terry Goldie, 2nd edition, Oxford UP, 1998, pp. 467-8.Scofield, Gregory. “Offerings.” Prairie Fire, vol. 21, no. 1, 2000, p. 71.Scofield, Gregory. “Thunder Through My Veins.” Prairie Fire, vol. 21, no. 1, 2001, p. 71.Scofield, Gregory. “Prayer for Nightmares.” Prairie Fire, vol. 22, no. 3, 2001, p. 112.Scofield, Gregory. “Oskan-Acimowina.” Prairie Fire, vol. 22, no. 3, 2001, p. 113.Scofield, Gregory. “To Answer Some Things.” Prairie Fire, vol. 22, no. 3, 2001, p. 115.Scofield, Gregory. “My Lover’s Mother Laments her Dancing Shoes.” Prairie Fire, vol. 22, no. 3, 2001, p. 116.Scofield, Gregory. “All My Women are Gone.” Prairie Fire 22.3 2001 117.Scofield, Gregory. “What a Way to Go.” Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, Broadview, 2001, pp. 334-5.Scofield, Gregory. “God of the Fiddle Players.” Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, Broadview, 2001, p. 335.Scofield, Gregory. “Cycle (of the black Lizard).” Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, Broadview, 2001, pp. 335-7.Scofield, Gregory. “Unhinged.” Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, Broadview, 2001, pp. 337-8.Scofield, Gregory. “Pawâcakinâsîs-pîsim, December • The Frost Exploding Moon.” Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, Broadview, 2001, pp. 338-9.Scofield, Gregory. “Pêyak-Nikamowin • One Song.” Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary AnthologyScofield, Gregory. “T. For.” Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, Broadview, 2001, pp. 341-2.Scofield, Gregory. “Not All Halfbreed Mothers.” Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, Broadview, 2001, pp. 343-4.Scofield, Gregory. “True North, Blue Compass Heart.” Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, Broadview, 2001, pp. 344-6.Scofield, Gregory. “I’ve Been Told.” Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology, edited by Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer, Broadview, 2001, pp. 346-7.Scofield, Gregory. “The Prayer Song.” Studies in Canadian Literature, vol. 31, no. 1, 2006, p. 128.SHORT NON-FICTIONScofield, Gregory. “Poems as Healing Bundles.” Indigenous Poetics in Canada, edited by Neal McLeod, Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2014, pp. 311-19.Scofield, Gregory. “You Can Always Count on an Anthropologist (To Set You Straight, Crooked, or Somewhere In-between)” Me Sexy: An Exploration of Native Sex and Sexuality, edited by Drew Hayden Taylor, Douglas & McIntyre, 2008, pp. 160-8.
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SECONDARY BIBLIOGRAPHY
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BOOK REVIEWS
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I KNEW TWO MÉTIS WOMENMethot, Suzanne. “I Knew Two Métis Women (Book).” Quill & Quire, vol. 65, no. 6, 1999, p. 53.
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KIPOCIHKÂN: POEMS NEW AND SELECTEDBradley, Nicholas. “I’ll Teach You Cree.” Canadian Literature, vol. 206, 2010, pp. 187-9.Dales, Jennifer. “Kipocihkân: Poems New and Selected.” Arc Poetry Magazine, vol. 63, 2010, pp. 132-3.
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LOUIS: THE HERETIC POEMSEigenbrod, Renate. “Dreams and Inspirations.” Canadian Literature, vol. 215, 2012, pp. 194-5.McFarlane, Christine. “Riel, the Icon, Humanized through Poetry.” Windspeaker, vol. 29, no. 9, 2011, p. 21.Pašovič, Maja. “Review of Gregory Scofield’s Louis: The Heretic Poems.” Luvah: Journal of Creative Imagination, vol. 2, 2012, n.p.Richardson, John. “On Louis: The Heretic Poems, by Gregory Scofield.” Behind the Hedge, WordPress, 25 Feb. 2013.
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NATIVE CANADIANA: SONGS FROM THE URBAN REZHolmes, Michael. “Provocative, Gritty, and Uneven.” Quill & Quire, vol. 62, no. 5, 1996, p. 28.
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THUNDER THROUGH MY VEINSDevine, Heather. “Métis Lives, Past and Present: A Review Essay.” BC Studies, vol. 128, 2000/01, pp. 85-90.“Thunder Through my Veins: Memoirs of a Métis Childhood.” ARC Poetry Magazine, vol. 45, 2000, p. 103.
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BOOKS/DISSERTATIONSFeghali, Zalfa. Queer Citizenship and Acts of Reading. Dissertation, U of Nottingham, 2012, U of Nottingham, 2012.Shwetz, Catherine. Communicable Stories: HIV in Canadian Aboriginal Literature. M.A. Thesis, Dalhousie U, 2011.White, Robin. Louis Riel, Justice, and Métis Self-Identification: Literary Politics for Survival in the Evolution of Canadian Nationhood. Dissertation, Goldsmiths College, U of London, 2014.
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FILMSPryor, Hilary, dir. Singing Home the Bones: A Poet Becomes Himself. May Street Group, 2006.
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INTERVIEWSScofield, Gregory. “Sitting Down to Ceremony: An Interview with Gregory Scofield.” By Tanis MacDonald, Across Cultures/Across Borders: Canadian Aboriginal and Native American Literatures, edited by Paul DePasquale, Renate Eigenbrod, and Emma LaRocque, Broadview, 2010, pp. 289-96.Scofield, Gregory. “January Interview: Gregory Scofield.” By Linda L. Richards, January Magazine, n.d.Scofield, Gregory. “The Poet Gregory Scofield (Métis) Discusses His Book Louis: The Heretic Poems.” By Robert-Falcon Ouellette, At the Edge of Canada: Indigenous Research, blogspot, 9 Dec. 2011.
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PEER-REVIEWED ACADEMIC ARTICLES
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NATIVE CANADIANA: SONGS FROM THE URBAN REZAndrews, Jennifer. “Irony, Métis Style: Reading the Poetry of Marilyn Dumont and Gregory Scofield.” Canadian Poetry, Spring-Summer, 2002, pp. 6-31.Gingell, Susan. “Lips’ Inking: Cree and Cree-Métis Authors’ Writings of the Oral and what they Might Tell Educators.” Canadian Journal of Native Education, vol. 32, no. sup, 2010, pp. 35-61.Jamieson, Sara. “ yahkwê Songs: AIDS and Mourning in Gregory Scofield’s Urban Rez.” Canadian Poetry, Fall-Winter, 2005, pp. 52-64.
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OEUVREMcCall, Sophie. “Diasporas, Indigenous Sovereignties, and Métis Writing in Canada.” Canadian Literature, vol. 204, 2010, pp. 121-2. Web. [Date Accessed]Scudeler, Jane. “‘The Song I Am Singing’: Gregory Scofield’s Interweavings of Métis, Gay and Jewish Selfhoods.” Studies in Canadian Literature, vol. 21, no. 1, 2006, pp. 129-45.Stitger, Shelley. “The Dialectics and Dialogics of Code-Switching in the Poetry of Gregory Scofield and Louise Halfe.” The American Indian Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 1, 2006, pp. 49-60.
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SINGING HOME THE BONESGingell, Susan. “Lips’ Inking: Cree and Cree-Métis Authors’ Writings of the Oral and what they Might Tell Educators.” Canadian Journal of Native Education, vol. 32, no. sup, 2010, pp. 35-61.
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THUNDER THROUGH MY VEINSCariou, Warren. “Epistemology of the Woodpile.” University of Toronto Quarterly, vol. 71, no. 4, 2002, pp. 909-17.Gingell, Susan. “Lips’ Inking: Cree and Cree-Métis Authors’ Writings of the Oral and what they Might Tell Educators.” Canadian Journal of Native Education, vol. 32, sup, 2010, pp. 35-61.
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EXCERPTS (TEN CANADIAN WRITERS IN CONTEXT)
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FROM ANGELA VAN ESSEN’S CRITICAL ESSAY
Richard Van Camp claims that “when you’re reading Gregory Scofield, yes, it’s a poem, but it’s also a song” (Pryor). In many of Scofield’s poems, the rhythm and the music come from nêhiyawêwin. This becomes clear when you hear him perform his poetry, particularly works like “Oh Dat Agnes” or “Prayer Song for the Returning of Names and Sons,” which feature Cree speakers, Cree words, and Cree song. (If you have not had the pleasure of hearing Scofield perform his poetry in person, you can see and hear him perform many of his works in the documentary Singing Home the Bones: A Poet Becomes Himself. The Gabriel Dumont Institute has also published an edition of I Knew Two Métis Women that includes two audio CDs featuring Scofield, along with other musicians and actors, performing each of the poems in the book as well as the musical intertexts.)
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FROM GREGORY SCOFIELD’S kipochikân: Poems New and Selected
I am nothing without my blanket.
This is the key to the storehouse.
I am in charge here.This is my blanket,
spectacularly hued, wildly patterned.
An end to the Indian wars.I am federally licensed to write this poem.
I am nothing without my blanket.This is the big aha of the whole thing.
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Videos
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