Mostly Ruth DyckFehderau (pronounced Dyke-FAY-der-ow) writes literary fiction and non-fiction. Sometimes she teaches Creative Writing and English Lit at University of Alberta or in far-flung places around the world. She holds degrees from Universities of Alberta (PhD ’01, MA ’95) and Winnipeg (BA ’91).
Ruth has written three books: I (Athena), a Miramichi Reader Best of 2023 novel (NeWest Press); E nâtamukw miyeyimuwin: Residential School Recovery Stories of the James Bay Cree, Vol.1 (© James Bay Cree, 2023), written with James Bay Cree storytellers, winner of Independent Press Award, Foreword INDIES Gold, among others; and The Sweet Bloods of Eeyou Istchee: Stories of Diabetes and the James Bay Cree (© James Bay Cree, 2017), written with James Bay Cree storytellers, now in Second Edition (2020), winner of International Book Award, IPPY Silver, among others.
Ruth's work is hearing-impaired and queer. She has lived in many places, including Eeyou Istchee, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa, France, Italy, and Poland.
Ruth is a popular speaker/facilitator on many topics. She has been teaching English Lit and Creative Writing at universities and doing presentations/workshops with various arts, writing, and theatre organizations since the mid '90s. She can speak/has spoken to large and small groups about
any aspect of prose writing craft (fiction, nonfiction, or scholarly) such as:
constructive feedback
character development
avoiding tropes
effective diction
inclusive writing
punctuation and meaning
scrubbing out wordiness/jargon
de-academicizing your creative writing
crafting setting
travel writing
point of view
and more.
any aspect of workshopping
censorship and cancel culture
life writing with Indigenous groups/storytellers
writing with marginalized or traumatized people
writing queer characters
what queer texts can teach all writers
activism and writing
writing the stories of others; writing from privilege; writing about people living in insecurity
narrative medicine; writing and health/illness or trauma
accessible/inclusive book design
individual stories/books and plays.
various aspects of Canadian Lit, Queer Lit, Children's/YA Lit, Women's Lit, Indigenous Lit
Ruth has done/can do workshops on any of the topics listed above (under presentations).
