Connie Fife (August 27, 1961 – February 3, 2017) was a Canadian Cree poet and editor. She published three books of poetry, and edited several anthologies of

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

women's writing. Her work appeared in numerous other anthologies and literary magazines. Originally from

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, she was a longtime resident of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, and resided in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and

Haines Junction Haines Junction is a village in Yukon, Canada. It is at Kilometre 1,632 (historical mile 1016) of the Alaska Highway at its junction with the Haines Highway, hence the name of the community. According to the 2021 Census, the population was 688. ...

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

. In 2000, she was one of four writers, alongside Dan David, Walter Nanawin and Anna Marie Sewell, awarded the special one-time Prince and Princess Edward Prize in Aboriginal Literature from the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal i ...

. The jury of the award described her pen as "fearless." From 1990 to 1992 she was a writer-in-residence at the En'owkin School of Writing in

Penticton Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration The ce ...

, where she was awarded a fellowship from the Canadian Native Arts Foundation to study creative 1992. An out lesbian, she served on the jury of the

Dayne Ogilvie Prize The Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to an emerging Canadian writer who is part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer community. Origina ...

for

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

writers in 2014. In addition to her work as a poet, Connie Fife was an outreach worker for the Urban Native Youth Association in Vancouver, British Columbia. Fife died in

Haines Junction, Yukon Haines Junction is a village in Yukon, Canada. It is at Kilometre 1,632 (historical mile 1016) of the Alaska Highway at its junction with the Haines Highway, hence the name of the community. According to the 2021 Census, the population was 688.< ...

on February 3, 2017, at the age of 55.

Works

Poetry

*''Beneath the Naked Sun'' (1992) *''Speaking Through Jagged Rock'' (1999) *''Poems for a New World'' (2001)

Anthologies

*''

Fireweed ''Chamaenerion angustifolium'' is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. It is known in North America as fireweed, in some parts of Canada as great willowherb, in Britain and Ireland as rosebay willowherb. ...

'' Native Women's Issue, No. 26 (1986) *''Gatherings 2'' (1991) *''The Colour of Resistance: A Contemporary Collection of Writing by Aboriginal Women'' (1998)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fife, Connie 1961 births 2017 deaths Canadian women poets 20th-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian anthologists Cree people Writers from Saskatchewan Canadian lesbian writers First Nations poets LGBT First Nations people First Nations women writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century First Nations writers 21st-century First Nations writers 21st-century LGBT people