Katherena Vermette

Katherena Vermette (born 29 January 1977) is a Canadian writer, who won the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry in 2013 for her collection North End Love Songs. Vermette is of Métis descent and originates from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was an MFA student in creative writing at the University of British Columbia.

In addition to writing, Vermette advocates for the equality of Indigenous peoples in Canada, vocalizing her dissatisfaction with the Canadian government and media's apathy and neglect of Indigenous rights. Vermette grew up in the North End of Winnipeg, Manitoba,

North End Love Songs Vermette's first published volume of poetry, North End Love Songs functions as an ode to the place she grew up, Winnipeg's North End.

"Heart" A poem commissioned by CBC Aboriginal, "Heart" similarly depicts the North End of Winnipeg from Vermette's point of view. Vermette aims to change the narrative from "that North End", known for being a "lost cause", to the way she knows it. Illustrated by Irene Kuziw, the collection aims to present the Anishnaabe Teachings of the Seven Grandfathers in a way that is easily digestible for young people. The series depicts Indigenous children in a metropolitan context. The series comprises seven individual volumes: The Just Right Gift, Singing Sisters, The First Day, Kode's Quest(ion), Amik Loves School, Misaabe's Stories, and What is Truth, Betsy?. and Governor General's Award for English-language fiction. In November 2017, it won the Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Literature.

Film and digital media In 2015, she and Erika MacPherson co-directed the 20-minute National Film Board of Canada documentary This River, about Canadian Indigenous families that have had to search for family members who have disappeared. Partly based on Vermette's own experience, the film received the 2016 Coup de coeur du jury award at Montreal's festival, and premiered in vermette's hometown of Winnipeg on October 5, at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. It was named Best Short Documentary at the 5th Canadian Screen Awards. Vermette and NFB producer Alicia Smith also created a related Instagram work, What Brings Us Here, a companion piece to The River, which offers portraits of volunteers behind the community-run Winnipeg search teams the Bear Clan and Drag the Red.

Other work She is a member of the Aboriginal Writers Collective of Manitoba, and edited the anthology xxx ndn: love and lust in ndn country in 2011.

Her work was published in the literary anthology Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water.

Activism Vermette works with young people who are ostracized due to their circumstances and labelled "at risk".

Accolades In 2013, vermette won the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry, for her collection North End Love Songs, Its French translation, Ligne brisée, was defended by Naomi Fontaine in the 2018 edition of Le Combat des livres, where it won the competition.

Her novel The Strangers was the winner of the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

Real Ones was longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize.

Works North End Love Songs (2012, poetry) The Seven Teachings Stories (2015, children's) The Break (2016, novel) Pemmican Wars (2017, graphic novel) river woman (2018, poetry) The Girl and the Wolf (2019, children's) The Strangers (2021, novel) The Circle (2023, novel) Real Ones (2024, novel) Procession (2025, poetry)