The cover art of This Land Is a Lullaby, written by Tonya Simpson and illustrated by Delreé Dumont. (Image courtesy Orca Book Publishers)
A Revelstoke-based First Nation artist with an eye for landscapes has been celebrated with one of Canada’s highest literary honours for her contribution to a children’s book about Indigenous knowledge-sharing.
Delreé Dumont, a member of Onion Lake Cree Nation north of Lloydminster, Sask., is the illustrator behind This Land Is a Lullaby.
The book, written in Plains Cree and also an English-Cree version, won the 2025 Governor General’s Literary Award for illustrated books in young people’s literature.
Dumont, known in Cree as Wâpiski Kihéw Esquao (White Eagle Woman), began collaborating on the work in September 2024 after being approached by Orca Book Publishers. University of Alberta anthropologist Tonya Simpson, of Pasqua First Nation in Saskatchewan, was authoring the story, which explores spiritual relationships between Indigenous children, ancestors and their traditional Prairie lands.
“It has been such an honour to collaborate with Delreé on this lullaby,” Simpson, who wrote the book as a lullaby for her daughter, said in a release. “Her work has captured the spirit of the song more than I could’ve imagined. This book is really resonating with readers, and it makes me reflect on Indigenous concepts of relations and spirituality. I am hopeful about what these teachings can bring to the world today.”
Immersed since 2014 in styles such as pointillism, a neo-impressionist technique that uses dotted painting, Dumont eagerly accepted Orca’s invitation in 2023 to join the book project.
After her parents left the Onion Lake reserve in the 1950s, she was born and raised in Chilliwack, and went on to spend 32 years working in Alberta’s oil and gas industry.
“I thought, ‘What do I want to do when I grow up?'” she recalled. Initially getting into painting, “I never actually considered myself as a landscape artist. There’s so much to look at, from the dirt colour to the sky colour.”
But even in Saskatchewan, known too often for its flat southern Prairies, Dumont grew up appreciating the complex mountainous landscapes in the province’s north.
“We’re taught to respect the land and respect the animals,” she explained of the nature she depicts. “Of course, the mountains around me is my inspiration.”
Knowing the Saskatchewanian landscapes from when she was younger, illustrating This Land Is a Lullaby “just felt right,” Dumont said. “Everything in this book just resonated with me.”
“I have a lot of fond memories from the reserve, mainly because I was pretty horse-crazy,” she added, giggling while describing taking her steed for rides through the country.
After just a couple years getting comfortable with a paintbrush, Dumont had opened her own art gallery.
She ran it four years before stepping back to look after her late husband, who was diagnosed with leukemia.
Dumont has lived near Revelstoke since 2020, and continues to amplify her artistry through Delree’s Native Art Gallery.
Today, she’s so dedicated to her craft, her Portuguese water dog is named Dollie Dot as homage to the dotted style that pointillism is known for.
Also a passionate powwow dancer who enjoys painting fellow performers, Dumont said knowledge-sharing is an underlying theme of her and Simpson’s book – “that’s how we hand down our knowledge to others.”
Though she and Simpson haven’t had the opportunity to enjoy each other’s company in person, “one of these days we’ll meet for a high-five,” Dumont said with a laugh.
“It’s pretty surreal,” she added about receiving the Governor General’s Literary Award, with a $25,000 prize attached. “Even just being a finalist was pretty awesome.”
Dumont also credited Orca for being a great publishing partner on the project.
“I probably got an email every week just to encourage me,” she recounted.
Her biggest creative influence is her culture, and in the book, the illustrations are dedicated to her mother, who wasn’t an artist but a talented knitter and crafter.
“I learned my work ethic from her because she was a hard worker,” Dumont said, adding in the release that “receiving this award feels like she’s right there beside me, a full circle moment filled with love and gratitude.”
Last week at Arrow Heights Elementary School, she finished the second portion of a mountainscape mural that students had opportunities to add their own dots to. Dumont recently landed as a finalist for another book award as well — one based on nominations by children themselves — and has already signed on to illustrate a second literary work.
“It’s a Christmas story!” she remarked, with fingers crossed it will be published in time for December 2026.
Learn more about Dumont and her painting at delreedumont.ca.
