EMMA Talks: Julie Flett - Atayokee! On bookmaking, language and storytelling

Julie Flett is an award-winning author, illustrator, and artist of Cree, Métis, Scottish, French, and Inuit ancestry. Born in Toronto, she is now based in Vancouver, BC, Coast Salish Territory. It has been said that Julie “is a soft-spoken person with loud ideas. It is obvious from her work that she cares about how and why she constructs meaning out of pictures.” She works within a decolonial practice to create culturally-authentic artwork for children’s literature, with her research interests including Métis and Cree language and culture, film, animation from the 1960s and 70s, Inuit printmaking and drawing, Russian children’s literature, poetry, and folk stories from around the world.Community and youth engagement is a significant part of Julie’s work, as she loves working with young people and is an advocate of children’s rights. She has given workshops in First Nations communities across Southern Ontario with the First Nation Communities Read program, and has been involved in programming and mentoring at Windsor House School (a publicly funded democratic, parent-participation school), as well as offering workshops at the Purple Thistle Youth Centre. Julie often participates in author/illustrator visits to public schools and enjoys collaborating with her son on book and art making projects.