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 women's writing. Her work appeared in numerous other anthologies and literary magazines.Bateman, David. "Review of Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology." Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal. Ed. Jeannette C. Armstrong and Lally Grauer. Vol. 35. 2003. 161-162. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 298. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 8 July 2015. Gale Document Number:GALE|AOWYHX008922976.
Originally from Saskatchewan, she was a longtime resident of Victoria, British Columbia, and resided in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Toronto, Ontario, and Haines Junction, Yukon.
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."Prince praises talent, energy and hard work of Canadians". The Guardian (Charlottetown), August 25, 2000. 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, British Columbia, where she was awarded a fellowship from the Canadian Native Arts Foundation to study creative 1992."B.C. writers, dancers and students get awards". Vancouver Sun, January 22, 1992.
An out lesbian,New, W. H., Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press, 2002. . Chapter "Gay and Lesbian Writing", pp. 418-422. she served on the jury of the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT writers in 2014."Writers' Trust Presents LGBT Literary Award to Author and Screenwriter, Tamai Kobayashi" . Writers' Trust of Canada, June 23, 2014.
In addition to her work as a poet, Fife was an outreach worker for the Urban Native Youth Association in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Fife died in Haines Junction, Yukon, 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, Native Women's Issue, No. 26 (1986) Gatherings 2 (1991) The Colour of Resistance: A Contemporary Collection of Writing by Aboriginal Women (1998)
References