Not My Girl

Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton was an Inuvialuk elder, knowledge keeper, author, and an artisan. She was born in Ballie Island, Canada, on June 7, 1936. Her family traveled the high Arctic. Her older sister would read to her. She wanted to read and asked her parents to send her to a residential school. Her first book, Fatty Legs: A True Story, recounts her experiences at the school and how she handled being mistreated. Her other books include A Stranger at Home (2011), When I was Eight (2013), and Not My Girl (2014). Writing was a way for her to process her past and reconnect with her heritage. Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton, First Nations author, died in her apartment in Fort St. John, B. C., on April 21, 2021 after suffering from lung disease and diabetes. She was 84.