Joan Crate

Joan Crate was born in the Northwest Territories at Sǫǫ̀mbak’è on Chief Drygeese territory, traditional land of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. After finding homes in various places, she now lives in Calgary – Mohkinstsis – and the rural Okanagan on the unceded territory of sqilxʷ/syilx (Okanagan) peoples. She writes both poetry and fiction and has won several writing awards over the years, including the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Award for Black Apple, which was also shortlisted for the Frank Hegyi Award. The band U2, of whom she’s a big fan, featured her poem “I am a Prophet” on screen in their last Canadian tour. She lost her partner of almost four decades at the beginning of the pandemic. Since then, she has had work appear in five anthologies and on CBC Radio. She continues to explore writing in all its forms, visual art and is even dabbling in acting.