Speaking
Engagements

Readers will be pleased and impressed with the skill and care of this rising Métis literary talent. I know I was.

~ Jesse Thistle, Historian & Author

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Storyteller, Author, Playwright, Screenwriter, Visual Artist

Buy Her Books

Screenplays & Plays

rnolda, when not

busy with her family

or dabbling in a new art

form at their cozy home on

the Prairies — is writing

for fun and working to

improve her craft.

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~ Jesse Thistle, Historian & Author

Readers will be pleased and impressed with the skill and care of this rising Métis literary talent. I know I was.

A dynamic Métis woman originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Arnolda studied creative writing with Guy Vanderhaeghe at the University of Saskatchewan. Her first book, 20.12m, is a compelling and acclaimed coming-of-age collection of stories based on her father’s childhood among the marginalized Métis Road Allowance community at Punnichy, Saskatchewan, during the late 1940s. The book received several major awards in 2022: Danuta Gleed Literary Award and $10,000 grand prize from The Writers Union of Canada and the international High Plains Award for Best Indigenous Writer. It was among SaskBooks’ best-selling titles of 2021 and won the Saskatchewan Books Indigenous Publishing Award.

She is a Sask Teacher’s Federation facilitator, teaching how to build stories through Indigenous pedagogy. Arnolda also facilitates a creative writing class at the Saskatoon Correctional Center. She admits she is no expert, but Arnolda seeks to share her knowledge and constructs a safe and engaging environment.

READ ARNOLDA’S FULL BIO & HISTORY >

Awards

DANUTA GLEED LITERARY AWARD

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BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

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2022

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2021

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ PUBLISHING AWARD

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HIGH PLAINS BOOK AWARDS

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2022

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2022

SASKBOOKS
BESTSELLER
LIST

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2022

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2021

SASKBOOKS
BESTSELLER
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2022

BILLINGS
MONTANA
BESTSELLER
LIST

2022 High Plains Book Award Winner Announcement

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“Desperation is dangerous Charlie. It can break and hurt you.” “So can starvation,” I softly reply. Silence fills the space again.

From 20.12 m ~ Pg 31

Road allowance history is just now coming into public consciousness and Arnolda’s masterpiece of her father’s life is one such expression. This book is a goldmine of accurate and poetic information about Michif people. More critical accounts like this are needed to help tell our truths, a history that is romantic, exciting, powerful, joyful and defiant to the end. Readers will be pleased and impressed with the skill and care of this rising Métis literary talent. I know I was.

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The book 20.12m: A Short Story Collection of Life Lived as a Road Allowance Metis by Arnolda Dufour Bowes is one of the best and most touching works I have read in the last decade. There are short, creatively retold autobiographical stories of the lived experiences and context of the author’s father. It is a compelling journey of one man’s difficult and courageous life from childhood to adulthood. With great understanding, it reveals multicultural complexity. Perhaps the best value of it, in my opinion, is the sharing of creativity and resilience which is being passed on to continuing generations.

Accolades

Photo of Jesse Thistle, Historian and Author on Arnolda Dufour Bowes website
Photo of C. Adrian Heidemreich, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Native American Studies on Arnolda Dufour Bowes website

C. Adrian Heidemreich, Ph D

Jesse Thistle

Historian & Author

Professor Emeritus of Native American Studies/Anthropology, Montana State University Billings

Strapless wedding gown craft made of scripture papers and lace, created by Arnolda
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Building a legacy through storytelling is an honourable and valiant deed.

~ Arnolda Dufour Bowes

Exhibit

is based on Arnolda’s short story “Apples & Traintracks,”  from 20.12m. This exhibit reveals the plight of the prairie Road Allowance Metis during the 1930’s-40’s, their history of dispossession, discrimination and forcible removal by the Saskatchewan government.

Her sister, Andrea Haughian, created the original artwork for her book 20.12m and a few captivating new pieces for this display. Her signature style is abstract realism, and her medium is acrylic.

Apples & Traintracks
Sensory Art Exhibit

Accompanying the short narration film Arnolda wrote and directed, you will walk through her free-spirited Askiy (Earth) art. It includes her photography, poetry, mixed media pieces, reclaimed pieces from their father's Road Allowance home at Punnichy and natural components she crafted to accentuate our deep-rooted connection to the land and to explore a piece of our history.

The Road Allowance Metis were innovative, resourceful, and full of life; nothing was wasted, not even experiences. In this exhibit, you will journey within a story, and Arnolda desires that you empathize with the strength, resilience, and determination of the Road Allowance Metis.

Apples & Traintracks Exhibit

Wanuskewin
May - June 2024

Allan Sapp Gallery, North Battleford
Mar 1 - Apr 13, 2025

Dates/Locations TBA 2025:

Amelia Douglas Institute, Surrey BC
Duncan, BC
Red Deer, AB

Speaking Engagements

Arnolda’s passion is to provide hope and reconciliation through truth-sharing and storytelling and to provide her audience with knowledge and encouragement. Arnolda can tailor presentations to fit the audience, whether addressing a book club, university, elementary or high school classroom, or professional or casual setting.

She is a Sask Teacher’s Federation facilitator, teaching how to build stories through Indigenous pedagogy. Arnolda also facilitates a creative writing class at the Saskatoon Correctional Center. She admits she is no expert, but Arnolda seeks to share her knowledge and constructs a safe and engaging environment.

Schedule a Speaking Engagement

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“Keep taking up space,” Maggie’s mother says. “You’re only making room for the girls behind you.”

From Maggie Lou, FireFox ~ Now Available!

Current Projects

Maggie Lou, Firefox, released by Groundwood Books in 2023. “An amusing story showcasing Métis humor at its finest. Starred review.” Kirkus Review Purchase at Indigo, McNally Robinson or local bookstores.

Currently, book two of this series, “Maggie Meets Her Match,” is due for a Spring 2025 release date, and Arnolda is excited to announce that Maggie Lou is in the development of becoming an animation series.

Maggie Lou, Firefox was nominated for the Red Cedar Book Award and was included on the ABA Children’s Group Best Books for Young Readers, the Kirkus Best MG Books of the Year and NPR’s Books We Love.  

Film Script

Arnolda's screenplay Truthwalkers was conceived through the 2023 Tricksters and Writers program and was further developed through the 2024 Whistler Film Festival, Indigenous Filmmaker Fellowship.

Novel for Young Readers

Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre selected Arnolda for its 2023 New Voices Playwright Residency program.

She is entering her second year as a playwright resident with GTNT and continues to work on the play adaptation of Apples & Traintracks, which has a production timeline of 2025/2026.

Playwright