(Warm congratulations to our dear friend and collaborator Julie Flett, who was recognized last week with the 2025 Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People by the Writers Trust of Canada. The award is given each year to the author of an exceptional body of work in Canadian children’s literature, and we here at Cree Literacy Network endorse the assessment of the independent jury whole-heartedly:
“Rooted in her Cree-Métis identity and languages, Julie Flett has created a body of work that hums with warmth, beauty, and meaning. Her books are spare and graceful, subtle, yet rich with feeling—offering children bilingual storytelling in which Métis and Cree children are seen and heard and, at the same time, opening new worlds in which non-Indigenous children can explore and delight. Flett invites her young readers to slow down, to listen, to notice. Her stories centre family, community, and the natural world, affirming that these ways of knowing and seeing belong at the very heart of Canada’s story.” —2025 Vicky Metcalf jury (Peter Ho, Susan Perren, and Rebecca Thomas)
With gentle grace, Julie offers natural examples of Cree language and Cree worldview, all the while helping to shape a more balanced understanding of Canada for its children: Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike. I was honoured to hear Julie’s news in the company of a certain red-headed Creenuit grandboy, who received My Heart Fills with Happiness / sâkaskinêw nitêh miywêyihtamowin ohci (in collaboration with Monique Gray Smith) in 2019 through the TD Grade One Book Giveaway.
Writers Trust prepared a beautiful excerpt from Julie’s acceptance speech (delivered by Laurie Martella of Greystone Books); I hope they’ll forgive us for extracting the entire speech from their YouTube feed. We are so proud to be part of Julie’s work, and grateful for her embrace of Cree language revitalization.
One Response
Congrats!