Maria Campbell has been named the winner of the 2023 Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence.

The $10,000 award is given annually by the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild to recognize Saskatchewan writers with a substantial body of work who have had a significant impact on writing in Saskatchewan.

Campbell was awarded this year’s prize at a luncheon in Saskatoon on September 27.

“Maria Campbell is a towering figure in the Métis and writing communities of Saskatchewan,” the jury said. “In a career that has spanned half a century – bookended with the groundbreaking memoir, Halfbreed, first published in 1973 and republished in 2019 – Campbell has been a writer, filmmaker, and playwright, and has been instrumental in elevating Indigenous voices in the arts in Canada. She has been an inspiration to many Indigenous writers, especially Indigenous women, and continues to advocate for their stories to be told and heard.”