Kama
La Mackerel
Kama La Mackerel is a Mauritian-Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, educator, writer, community arts facilitator, and literary translator. La Mackerel has exhibited and performed their work internationally and their writing in English, French, and Kreol has appeared in publications both online and in print. In 2020, their debut poetry collection ZOM-FAM was named a best book of poetry by CBC, a best book debut by The Globe and Mail, and was shortlisted for the Concordia University First Book Prize. La Mackerel lives in tio’tia:ke (Montreal).
Award History
2021 Finalist
Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging WritersJury Citation
“Kama La Mackerel’s poetry is a sensuous and fiercely political exploration of gender, familial love, and the intergenerational impacts of colonization. Their multilingual, lyrical poems entrance with hypnotic rhythm and tell a story that spans decades and borders. La Mackerel captures the power of connections maintained in spite of the blunt, relentless pain of distance. Wooing the reader with a carefully orchestrated, gentle lapping of words, they then jolt us with earned, splashy staccatos of euphoria.”
— 2021 Dayne Ogilvie Prize jury (Daniel Allen Cox, Eva Crocker, and Danny Ramadan)
