Jeannette Armstrong - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

While growing up on the Penticton Indian Reserve, Armstrong received a formal education at a one-room school on the reserve as well as a traditional Okanagan education from her family and Elders. Armstrong’s customary education enabled her to learn the Okanagan language and she remains a fluent speaker of both Okanagan and English today. For many years since her childhood, Armstrong has studied traditional Okanagan teachings and practiced traditional ways under the direction of Elders.

Armstrong first discovered her talent for and attraction to writing at age fifteen when a poem she wrote on John F. Kennedy was published in a local newspaper (Voices). As a teenager, Armstrong continued to publish poetry and develop her literary voice by listening to and reading works by Aboriginal authors such as Pauline Johnson and Chief Dan George, who she identifies as her early influences.

In 1978, Armstrong received a diploma of Fine Arts from Okanagan College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Victoria where she studied Creative Writing. Armstrong’s education establishes the basis for her multifarious work and accomplishments.