Neal McLeod is half Cree (having grown up on the James Smith reserve in Saskatchewan) and half Swedish having had the fortunate opportunity to study abroad at the Swedish Art Academy at Umeå . Neal’s first book of poetry entitled, Songs to Kill a Wîhtikow, was nominated for several Saskatchewan book awards including book of the year in 2005 and book of year at the Anskohk McNally Aboriginal Literature Awards. In 2007, he also published Cree Narrative Memory, which was nominated for book of the year at the Anskohk McNally Aboriginal Literature Awards. In the fall of 2008, he published his second book of poetry entitled Gabriel’s Beach. He teaches Indigenous Studies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.