Mar 12, 2021
Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeau is Cree and Métis. Novelist, poet and worldwide recognized artist, Virginia was born in 1951 at Rapides-des-Cèdres (Quebec). With over 40 years of career, there is no doubt that she influenced Indigenous art and literature. In 2019, the Salon du livre des Premières Nations gave her a special literary tribute with a show called Waaskimaastiwaawin (meaning Bright Light)
As a poet and novelist, she talks about love, war, identity and mourning. Practicing her writing skills since the age of twelve years old, she started publishing in different magazines in 1983 and never stopped. Her first novel, Blue Bear Woman, was published in 2007. Her second novel, L’amant du lac, was published in 2013 and made her the first indigenous women to write erotic fiction in French. Her last poem anthology Poésie en marche pour Sindy was published in 2018 where she talked about missing and murdered Indigenous women. I encourage you to not only read her novels, but also look to her marvelous paintings.
