Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui

Writer, poet, performer and visual arts curator, Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui rejects categorizations and defines himself above all as a creator. A member of the Wendat people, he was raised and still lives in Wendake. He has been focused on promoting Indigenous arts and cultures for the past fifteen years. He is the co-founder and director of Kwahiatonk!, the only Canadian Francophone NPO entirely dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of Indigenous literature.

His first book, Yawendara et la forêt des Têtes-Coupées (Le Loup de gouttière, 2005), was a finalist for the Prix Salon international du livre de Québec / Ville de Québec in 2006, in the children’s book category. His poetry has been read across the country and overseas, presented in exhibitions, adapted in an animated film, and published in various collections, such as De la paix en jachère (Éditions Hannenorak, 2012) and Les grandes absences (Mémoire d’encrier 2013). He has published several papers in journals and collectives, including Amun (Stanké, 2016) and Les bruits du monde (Mémoire d’encrier, 2012). In 2017, he published his first collection of short stories, Chroniques de Kitchike : la grand débarque (Éditions Hannenorak), where he paints a scathing universe that mirrors the realities of Indigenous people living on reserves in southern Quebec.

In his writings, Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui alternates between the desire to share the wisdom and values of his ancestors, the need to express his individuality and the need to fight against the colonial grip.

Wendake, Canada