Wanda John-Kehewin

John-Kehewin grew up on the Kehewin reserve in Alberta, but did not grow up speaking the Cree language.[1] She lived with her mother, a Métis woman who struggled with alcoholism, for parts of her childhood.[2][3] She became aware of the lack of literature centering First Nations voices at a young age, after seeing the lack of representation in the books in her reserve's library.[3] At 19, John-Kehewin became pregnant. She left her reserve and traveled to Vancouver.[2]

She attended Douglas College, where she studied criminology, and she also studied Sociology and Aboriginal Studies at Langara College.[4] She earned her Master of Fine Arts at University of British Columbia.[1] In 2011 she completed The Writer's Studio, a creative writing program at Simon Fraser University.[5]

John-Kehewin has worked for the Canadian Ministry of Children and Families.[2]

John-Kehewin released her first graphic novel, Visions of the Crow, in 2023, with illustrations by nicole marie burton.[2][3][note 1] The story features a Cree-Métis teenager who tries to figure out his relationship to a crow and a new girl at his school, while also dealing with his mother's alcoholism and life away from his Alberta reserve. It is the first in a planned trilogy.

Her first young adult novel, Hopeless in Hope, is scheduled to release in September 2023.[3][6]

John-Kehewin currently lives in Vancouver.[1]

• World Poetry Empowered Poet Award 2018, for In the Dog House[8]
• Finalist for the Indigenous Voices Awards 2019, Published Poetry in English, for Seven Sacred Truths[11]