Heather MacLeod

Dr. Heather MacLeod is a Métis (Michif) Associate Professor of Curriculum Studies in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan. Her teaching focus is in the areas of Indigenous Literatures, Popular Culture, and Creative Writing. Dr. MacLeod’s approach is interdisciplinary and works to integrate Indigenous epistemologies and pedagogies providing a holistic understanding that goes beyond traditional subject silos. Illustrating and teaching the vital importance in her classrooms of incorporating the marginalized voices of Indigenous peoples and their literatures and creative works into the dominant spaces of Canada’s institutions— creates avenues for future teachers to choose acts of social justice and reconciliation in their own forthcoming practices. Prior to this appointment, Dr. MacLeod developed courses across undergraduate and graduate disciplines focusing upon decolonizing and Indigenizing (fraught terms) course content and assessments, as well she co-developed multidisciplinary certificates and a diploma which incorporated disciplines across the Faculty of Arts. Her research concentrates on Creative Writing with plays being produced in Scotland and Canada, her creative nonfiction is award winning and has been featured in the Malahat Review, as well as being longlisted in the CBC Creative Nonfiction contest in 2012 and 2018. Her short fiction has recently appeared in The Capilano Review and longlisted in 2024 in the CBC Short Fiction contest. Her poetry has appeared in most major journals in Canada, as well as appearing in journals in the United States, Britain, Ireland, France, Israel, New Zealand, and Australia. She has published several collections of poetry with two forthcoming collections with Fernwood Press (Oregon) and a selected poetry collection forthcoming with Barbarian Press (BC).

• Ph.D. University of Alberta, English & Film Studies, 2014
• MSc. University of Edinburgh, Creative Writing, 2007
• B.A. University of Victoria, Creative Writing, 1995

ECUR 265: Truth and Reconciliation in the K-12 Curricula

Books

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. The Little Yellow House. Montreal, PQ: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. Intermission. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Muses Publishing, 2012.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. The Burden of Snow. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Turnstone Press, 2005.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. Shapes of Orion (chapbook). Vancouver, BC: Smoking Lung Press, 2000.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. My Flesh the Sound of Rain. Regina, SK: Coteau Books, 1998.

Anthologies

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Affection for Kisses.” The Marriage of True Minds: An Anthology of Fifty Love Poems from Twenty-six Centuries. Jan and Crispin Elsted, eds. Barbarian Press, 2023.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Token.” The Hour of Darkness. Sophie Harding, ed. Calgary, AB: Calgary Press, 2005.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “What I have Left is Imaging.” Running Barefoot: Women Write the Land. Dianne Linden and Wynne Edwards, eds. Toronto: Rowan Books, 2002.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Dead Birds, “What I’ve Left, “The Prayers of Islam,” I am Only Canadian.” Our Words, Our Revolutions: Di/Verse Voices of Black Women, First Nations Women, and Women of Colour in Canada. Sophie Harding, ed. Toronto: Inanna Publications, 2000.

Journals

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “In the Peace River Valley.” The Capilano Review. Deanna Fong, literary editor. Issue 4:4, Spring 2025.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “A Canadian Lyric (in parts): Acknowledgement.” The Dalhousie Review. Sue Goyette, Poetry Editor. Spring, 2025.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Notes on Wanting” and “I Am Clean.” The Angle: ACCUTE Newsletter. Spring 2024.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Withdrawal.” Grain. Volume 51, Issue 3. Spring 2024.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Honouring the Feather and the Fiddle.” Prism International. Volume 62, Issue 1. Fall 2023.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Epilogue.” Room. Volume 45.4. Winter 2022.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “I Want to Say,” “In the Face of My Finest Efforts to Categorize.” The Antigonish Review. Issue 207. Fall 2021.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Arctic Archipelago.” Room. Isabella Wang, ed. Volume 44.2. 2020.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Routes on the Red,” “Subarctic Archipelago.” The Maynard. Nick Hauck et al, eds. Fall 2020.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Gathering Ground: Suggesting Alternative Higher Learning Practices Towards Relating Indigenous and White-Settler Epistemologies.” Hawaii University International Conferences, Hawaii University, Honolulu, Hawaii, January 2025.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Centering Marginalized Voices: Active Commitment to Decolonizing Curriculum.” Riverside University Global Education Conference, Riverside, California, 8-9 August 2024. Paper Presentation.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Spitting Stars and Reconciling: The Corporeality of the Red River Métis Nation.” University of London International Conference on Poetry Studies: Poetry Between Creation and Interpretation, University of London, Birkbeck, UK, 16-17 March 2024. Paper presentation.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “But I Don’t Want to Go Outside or Sit in a Circle: Indigenizing and Decolonizing Curriculum.” 20th Annual Teaching Practices Colloquium: Relationships and Kindness in Higher Education, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, 20 February 2024. Paper Presentation.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Forms and Passages: Métis Displacement in Art and Literature.” The Twenty-first International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities 2023, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France, 28-30 June 2023. Paper Presentation.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Bodies and Bridges: Métis Diaspora and Hybridity in Sculpture and Poetry.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE) 2o23, York University, Toronto, ON, 27-30 May 2023. Paper Presentation.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “Assembling Terrain: Indigenizing and Decolonizing Higher Learning Practices.” Teaching Practices Colloquium (TPC) 2023, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC, 21 February 2023. Paper Presentation.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “An Appeal to Action: The Contested Body and Space in David A. Robertson’s Betty: The Helen Betty Osborne Story.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE) 2o22, The Alt Hotel, Montreal (PQ), Blended Delivery, 13-15 May 2022. Paper Presentation.

MacLeod, Heather Simeney. “The Visible Traces of Bias: The Disruption of CanLit’s Status Quo.” Research Ethics Conference 2021, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, Virtual Delivery, 25 June 2021. Paper Presentation.

• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Literary Awards Longlist for Short fiction, 2025.
• Room Shortlist for Poetry, 2024.
• Kingfisher Prize Longlist for Poetry, 2024.
• BC Arts Council Literary Art Grant, 2024.
• Capilano Review Shortlisted Short Fiction Submission to River Halen’s “I have to say what I want to hear:” Writing Contest, Fall 2023.
• Tricksters and Writers: Feature Film Writing Program for Indigenous Women, Summer 2022.
• Magpie Award Shortlisted for Poetry, 2022.
• Canada Council for the Arts Short Project Grant, 2021.
• Room Second Prize in Poetry, 2021.
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Literary Awards Longlisted Creative Nonfiction, 2018.
• University of Alberta Compliments Award received for teaching, 2016.
• Canada Council for Aboriginal Business Scholarship, 2014.
• INDspire Building Brighter Futures Bursary, 2014.
• Dissertation Scholarship, University of Alberta, 2013.
• Malahat Review’s First Place in Creative Nonfiction, 2012.
• City of Edmonton Community Grant, 2012.
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Literary Awards Longlisted Creative Nonfiction, 2011.
• Alberta Foundation for the Arts Grant, 2011.