Michelle Good is a Cree writer, poet, and lawyer from Canada, most noted for her debut novel Five Little Indians. She is a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Good has an MFA and a law degree from the University of British Columbia and, as a lawyer, advocated for residential-school survivors.
She lives in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan.
Early life and education Good is a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation. She was impacted by the Sixties Scoop and spent time in the foster care system. Her great-grandmother participated in the 1885 uprising at Frog Lake and her great-grandmother's uncle was Chief Big Bear. Good graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing in 2014. The first draft of her debut novel, Five Little Indians, was her graduate thesis project. She began to practice law in her 40s, sharing the histories of residential schools in courtrooms. Good received an honorary Doctor of Letters from Simon Fraser University on October 7, 2022.
Career Five Little Indians is a story about five British Columbia residential-school survivors. Although the novel itself is fiction, some of the episodes were based on real experiences of her mother and grandmother, who were both survivors of Canada's residential school system. The book was optioned for adaptation in 2021 as a limited television series by producer Martin Katz. In 2022, it won the Canada Reads competition, having been championed by Christian Allaire.
Truth Telling, her second book, is a collection of essays on historical and modern experiences of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Published on May 30, 2023, it was a finalist for the Balsillie Prize for Public Policy and an Indigenous Voices Award.
Good was named a Companion of the Order of Canada on December 31, 2025.
Awards and nominations YearNominated workAwardCategoryResultRef.2020Five Little IndiansGovernor General's AwardsEnglish-language fictionHarperCollins/UBC Best New Fiction Prize—Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize—Scotiabank Giller Prize — 2021Amazon.ca First Novel Award — Amnesty International Book ClubReader's ChoiceBC and Yukon Book PrizeEthel Wilson Fiction PrizeJim Deva Prize for Writing that ProvokesCity of Vancouver Book Award—Forest of ReadingEvergreen AwardIndigenous Voices Award Published Prose in English: FictionKobo Emerging Writer PrizeFiction2022Canada Reads—2025—Indspire AwardsArts2026Eliza Sunshine Giller PrizeTalia Kliot, "$100K Giller Prize announces 5-title shortlist for 2026". CBC Books, October 5, 2026.
Bibliography
Books —— (2020). Five Little Indians. HarperCollins. —— (2023). Truth Telling: Seven Conversations About Indigenous Life in Canada. HarperCollins. —— (2026). Eliza Sunshine. HarperCollins.
Poetry —— (1996). “Ancient Songs” and “Stone People”. In Akiwenzie-Damm, Kateri; Armstrong, Jeannette (eds.). Standing Ground: Strength and Solidarity amidst Dissolving Boundaries. Gatherings, vol. 7. Theytus Books.
Reprinted in:
Essays
—— (2018). "A Tradition of Violence". In Anderson, Kim; Campbell, Maria; Belcourt, Christi (eds.). Keetsahnak: Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters. University of Alberta Press. —— (2022). "'Play Indians' Inflict Real Harm on Indigenous People". In Silcoff, Mireille (ed.). Best Canadian Essays 2023. Biblioasis.
References