³Ô¹ÏÍø

Nov. 11, 2024
For Immediate Release

BRANTFORD — ³Ô¹ÏÍø has appointed multiple award-winning Indigenous writer Alicia Elliott as the incoming ³Ô¹ÏÍø Stedman Fellow.  

Elliott, who is Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River, won the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and Indigenous Voices Award for her 2023 novel, And Then She Fell. The national bestseller was the highly anticipated follow-up to Elliott’s debut collection of essays, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground (2019), itself a bestseller and winner of the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.

“I’m honoured to serve as a fellow at ³Ô¹ÏÍø Brantford, which is not only my people’s traditional territory, but also the city I call home,” said Elliott. “Brantford has long informed my writing, so having this chance to mentor other aspiring writers, work with ³Ô¹ÏÍø Brantford faculty and students, and offer my expertise to the community at large is an opportunity I’m beyond grateful for.”

The ³Ô¹ÏÍø Stedman Fellowship was established by the university to honour the wishes of the late Mary Stedman, whose endowment to ³Ô¹ÏÍø was intended to help foster arts and culture at the university’s Brantford campus and in the surrounding community. Through the ³Ô¹ÏÍø Stedman Fellowship, the university brings Canadian artists of international calibre to Brantford, engaging students, faculty and local residents in lectures, readings, workshops and one-on-one sessions.

“We’re thrilled at this opportunity to connect members of the ³Ô¹ÏÍø and wider Brantford communities with an inspiring author and speaker, with the overall aim of encouraging greater understanding of the Indigenous experience,” said Lisa Wood, English program coordinator at ³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Brantford campus. “We’re grateful to Mary Stedman and the for funding this fellowship.” 

During Elliott’s year-long fellowship, she’ll be spending two hours a week on campus. Her office hours on Wednesdays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. are an opportunity for budding writers from ³Ô¹ÏÍø and the broader community to schedule one-on-one sessions for expert feedback on their work. Requests for appointments can be made with Elliott directly at aelliott@wlu.ca. 

In addition to her regular office hours, Elliott will be hosting a public reading and community creative writing workshops in the new year.