Darrel James McLeod (July 13, 1957 – August 29, 2024) was a CanadianCree writer.^[1] His memoirMamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age, an account of his childhood experience of physical and sexual abuse, won theGovernor General's Award for English-language non-fiction at the2018 Governor General's Awards^[2] and was a shortlisted finalist for the 2019RBC Taylor Prize.^[3]

McLeod was born in 1957 in Athabasca, Alberta.^[4][5] Originally fromTreaty 8 Cree territory nearSmith,Alberta,^[6] McLeod went on to work as a teacher, a health care worker, a land claims negotiator and as director of education and international affairs for theAssembly of First Nations.^[1] He began writing the book while studying creative writing underBetsy Warland atSimon Fraser University.^[1]

The book also touches both on McLeod's coming out as agay man,^[7] and on his sibling's transition astransgender.^[8]

His second book,Peyakow, was shortlisted for the 2021Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.^[9] McLeod died in Victoria, British Columbia on August 29, 2024, at the age of 67.^[10][11]

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