Neal McLeod is half Cree (having grown up on the James Smith reserve in Saskatchewan) and half Swedish having had the fortunate opportunity to study abroad at the Swedish Art Academy at Umeå . Neal has exhibited his art work throughout Canada including in the 2005 exhibition au fil de mes jours (in my lifetime) at Le Musée national des beaux-arts du Quebec. The exhibition was remounted at the Museum of Civilization in 2007.

In addition to being a painter, he is also a curator: his latest project was as co-curator of the exhibition James Henderson: The Man who Paints the Old Men which was organized by the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon Saskatchewan.

Neal’s first book of poetry entitled, Songs to Kill a Wîhtikow, was nominated for several Saskatchewan book awards including book of the year in 2005 and book of year at the Anskohk McNally Aboriginal Literature Awards. In 2007, he also published Cree Narrative Memory, which was nominated for book of the year at the Anskohk McNally Aboriginal Literature Awards. In the fall of 2008, he published his second book of poetry entitled Gabriel’s Beach.

He is currently editing a volume entitled Indigenous Poetics with Randy Lundy and Natasha Beeds. In addition he is working the following books: Dreaming Blue Horses (novel), a collection of humourous short stories entitled Neechi Hustle, biography of Noel Starblanket, and A History of Cree Warfare and Diplomacy.

He teaches Indigenous Studies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.