Poetics & Politics 2011

Gerald Vizenor is Distinguished Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and Professor Emeritus of American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a citizen of the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. Vizenor is the author of more than thirty books on Native histories, critical studies, and literature, including The People Named the Chippewa: Narrative Histories, and Manifest Manners: Narratives on Postindian Survivance. He was the principal writer of the recent Constitution of the White Earth Nation. Vizenor won the American Book Award for his novel Griever: An American Monkey King in China, and received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western Literature Association. His most recent books include Fugitive Poses: Native American Indian Scenes of Absence and Presence, and four novels, Chancers, Hiroshima Bugi: Atomu 57, Father Meme, and Shrouds of White Earth. Native Liberty, a selection of essays, Native Storiers, an anthology of Native literature, and Survivance were recently published. Vizenor is a series editor for Native Storiers at the University of Nebraska Press, and Native Traces at the State University of New York Press. Gerald Vizenor's reading was given on April 13, 2011.

Leslie Marmon Silko, a former professor of English and fiction writing, is the author of novels, short stories, essays, poetry, articles, and film scripts. She has won prizes, fellowships, and grants from such sources as the National Endowment for the Arts and The Boston Globe. She was the youngest writer to be included in The Norton Anthology of Women's Literature, for her short story "Lullaby." Ms. Silko lives in Tucson, Arizona. Her reading was held on April 6, 2011.

Dr. Franci Washburn holds Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts degrees in English, Creative Writing, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of New Mexico. She writes poetry, short fiction and novels, and has published articles in Indigenous Nations Studies Journal, American Indian Quarterly, and Studies in American Indian Literature. Her first novel, Elsie's Business, will be released from the University of Nebraska Press in the fall of 2006. A book of poetry is ready for submission and a second novel is in progress as well as a non-fiction book entitled James R. Walker and the Lakota Creation Story. Her areas of interest include creative writing, poetry and fiction; Lakota culture, history and politics; American Indian Literature; Literary Theory; and American Indian Art, particularly American Indian beadwork. presented March 2, 2011.

Luci Tapahonso is Diné and a Professor of American Indian Studies and English. She is the author of three children's books and five books of poetry. She teaches courses in American Indian Literature and Creative Writing. Professor Tapahonso received the 2002 American Indian Leadership Award from the University of Kansas for her integral role in establishing the Indigenous Nations Studies Graduate Program there in 1998. Her book, Blue Horses Rush In, was awarded the Mountain and Plains Booksellers Association's 1998 Award for Poetry. Professor Tapahonso's reading was given on February 16, 2011.

Dr. Ofeila Zepeda is the author of three books of poetry and has been awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, served as Poet Laureate of Tucson, and delivered the 2010 Lawrence Clark Powell Lecture. She completed a public art project, inscribing bilingual poems on large boulders on North Mountain Avenue and is a UA Regents' Professor and a member of the Tohono O'ohdam Nation. Dr. Zepeda's reading was on January 26, 2011.