tânisi

Chelsea Vowel nitisiyihkâson êkwa manitow-sâkahikanihk nitôhcîn mâka ê-wîkiyân amiskwacîwâskahikanihk mêkwâc. otipêyimisow-iyiniw, omasinahikêw êkwa okiskinwahamâkêw ôma niya. mistahi nimiywêyihtên ka-ayamihcikêyân êkwa ka-masinahikêyân.

My name is Chelsea Vowel, and I’m a parent, author, freelance writer, public speaker, and sci-fi nerd living in Edmonton, Alberta. I’m Métis from Lac Ste. Anne, and a citizen of the Otipemisiwak Métis Government in Alberta.

I’ve been an educator for 22 years and am currently an Associate Lecturer at the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta, where I teach the Cree language and Indigenous Studies. In addition to writing about the past and present relationship between Indigenous Peoples and Canada, I like to – as Cherokee scholar Daniel Heath Justice puts it – “imagine otherwise” through Indigenous futurist world-building. Whether it’s co-hosting an Indigenous feminist sci-fi podcast, writing short stories, making weird little video games, developing Cree-language resources, or co-creating an actual factual Métis land trust, I’m fascinated by the potential to “act otherwise” in the now in order to create the kind of futures we want to live in.

Over the last decade, I’ve had the incredible luck to be able to speak to a wide range of audiences across Canada and internationally, visiting K-12 classrooms, post-secondary institutions and academic conferences, professional associations, and community organizations. These face-to-face discussions and the relationships made are what inspire me most in my work, as I learn more about what others are doing to enact their own version of a better world. kinanâskomitinâwâw mistahi for checking out the strange things I do and write!