Garry Gottfriedson is from Kamloops, BC. He is strongly rooted in his Secwépemc (Shuswap) cultural teachings. He holds a Masters of Education Degree from Simon Fraser University. In 1987, the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, awarded a Creative Writing Scholarship to Gottfriedson for Masters of Fine Arts Creative Writing. There, he studied under Allen Ginsberg, Marianne Faithfull and others. Gottfriedson also achieved an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Northern British Columbia and a Doctor of Letters from the Thompson Rivers University. Gottfriedson has thirteen published books, including Skin Like Mine, Clinging to Bone (Ronsdale Press, 2010; 2019) and, most recently, Bent Back Tongue (Caitlin Press, 2022), and has presented his work across Canada, United States, South America, New Zealand, Europe, and Asia. Gottfriedson’s work unapologetically unveils the truth of Canada’s treatment of First Nations. His work has been anthologized and published nationally and internationally, with a forthcoming book to be published in Spanish.
