Darrel J. McLeod

Darrel James McLeod (July 13, 1957 – August 29, 2024) was a Canadian Cree writer.^[1] His memoir Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age, an account of his childhood experience of physical and sexual abuse, won the Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction at the 2018 Governor General's Awards^[2] and was a shortlisted finalist for the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize.^[3]

McLeod was born in 1957 in Athabasca, Alberta.^[4][5] Originally from Treaty 8 Cree territory near Smith, Alberta,^[6] McLeod went on to work as a teacher, a health care worker, a land claims negotiator and as director of education and international affairs for the Assembly of First Nations.^[1] He began writing the book while studying creative writing under Betsy Warland at Simon Fraser University.^[1]

The book also touches both on McLeod's coming out as a gay man,^[7] and on his sibling's transition as transgender.^[8]

His second book, Peyakow, was shortlisted for the 2021 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.^[9] McLeod died in Victoria, British Columbia on August 29, 2024, at the age of 67.^[10][11]