Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Nora Naranjo-Morse (Pueblo Santa Clara) is a sculptor, printmaker, writer, and filmmaker. She is from a prominent family of Santa Clara potters, including her mother Rose Naranjo. Naranjo-Morse received her bachelor’s degree in social welfare from the College of Santa Fe.
As a modern Pueblo woman, Naranjo-Morse addresses issues of family, womanhood, and environmental concerns. Her book, Mud Woman: Poems from the Clay (University of Arizona Press, 1992), is a collection of poems. Naranjo-Morse will also read new works inspired by her outdoor sculpture Always Becoming, being unveiled at the NMAI on September 21.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Frances Washburn (Lakota/Anishinabe) is the author of Elsie’s Business (University of Nebraska Press, 2006), a modern retelling of the Lakota Deer Woman story. Washburn teaches at the University of Arizona at Tucson in the American Indian studies and English departments. She grew up on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota and received her degrees from the University of New Mexico (B.A., M.A., and Ph.D.). In the author’s words, Elsie’s Business is “intriguing, mysterious, and tragic....The events that happen to Elsie, happen to young Indian women everywhere.... I am asking readers to remember all those whose deaths have been forgotten.”
Also a talented bead artist, Washburn will demonstrate beadwork techniques and show completed works.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa) is a poet, novelist, playwright, scholar, and artist. In 1969, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his first novel, House Made of Dawn (Harper & Row). He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University in 1960 and 1963, respectively. Momaday is regarded as the foremost author in Native American literature.
Momaday has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, numerous academic degrees, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was a founding trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian and founded the Buffalo Trust, a non-profit foundation for the preservation and revitalization of Native American cultural heritage. His latest book, Three Plays (University of Oklahoma, October 2007), is a collection of two plays and a screenplay, never before published. Momaday last appeared at the museum in December 2005, and his poem, “Sacajawea,” is included in the Native Writers anthology CD, Pulling Down the Clouds.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Greg Sarris (Coastal Miwok) is a writer, screenwriter, and professor. He was elected to his seventh term as the chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (California). Sarris received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and currently holds an endowed chair in Native American Studies at Sonoma State University.
Sarris has published several books, including Grand Avenue (Penguin, 1994), which he adapted for an HBO miniseries of the same name and co-produced with Robert Redford. His last novel, Watermelon Nights (Penguin, 1998), follows three generations of California Indians and has been adapted as a play by the Santa Rosa Community College Theatre. Sarris has also written plays for Pieces of the Quilt, Intersection Theatre, and the Mark Taper Forum. Recently, he finished editing the book Teaching the Work of Louise Erdrich (MLA, 2004), with Connie Jacobs and James Giles.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Victor Montejo (Jakaltek Maya) is a professor and past chair of the Native American Studies Department at the University of California, Davis. He was born in Jacaltenango, Huehuetenango, Guatemala. His first language is the Mayan dialect popb’al ti’. He received his M.A. from the State University of New York and his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut.
Montejo wrote the book Testimony: Death of a Guatemalan Village (Curbstone Press, 1987), about the brutal events he witnessed against the Maya by soldiers and his escape from his homeland. He has written numerous books about Maya history and culture, including two children’s books. He moved to Guatemala in 2003 to serve as congressman in the Guatemalan National Congress. Dr. Montejo is the first writer from a Latin American country to appear in the Native Writers series.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
In celebration of African-American History Month
Ron Welburn (Gingaskin/Assateague/Cherokee/African-American) is a poet and professor of English at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His works have been published in more than 100 periodicals and anthologies. Welburn received his bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University (PA), his master’s degree from the University of Arizona, and his doctorate from New York University.
His sixth book, Coming Through Smoke and the Dreaming (Greenfield Review Press, 2000), is a collection of poems. Welburn received the 2002 Wordcraft Circle Writer of the Year in Creative Prose: Non-Fiction. He researches the ethnohistory of eastern Native America, postmodernism, cultural studies, and jazz studies.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Noon & 6:30 p.m., Rasmuson Theater
In celebration of Women’s History Month
Buffy Sainte-Marie (Cree) is an acclaimed musician, songwriter, visual artist, and activist. Her song “Universal Soldier” became “the anthem of the peace movement” in the 1960s. In 1982, she won an Academy Award for her song “Up Where We Belong” from the movie, An Officer and a Gentleman.
Sainte-Marie holds a doctorate in fine arts from the University of Massachusetts. She is an officer in the Order of Canada and an official spokesperson for UNESCO Canada. In 1996, she founded the Cradleboard Teaching Project which distributes K-12 curricula in school subjects through indigenous perspectives. Sainte-Marie, who was one of the featured performers at the NMAI’s grand opening festival, will speak about her numerous music compositions and song lyrics.
Buffy will be singing live in concert on Friday, March 21. TICKETS ARE REQUIRED. For tickets, please call 202-633-3030, or visit www.ResidentAssociates.org. TSA/NMAI members $20; Senior Members $18; General Admission $25, and Students $15.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
2 p.m., Rasmuson Theater
In celebration of National Poetry Month
Lance Henson (Cheyenne/Oglala Lakota) is a poet who grew up in Oklahoma immersed in his Southern Cheyenne traditions. He is a member of the Native American Church, a headsman of the Dog Soldier Clan, and a Sun Dance participant. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts (now the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma) and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Tulsa. Henson has published more than 20 books of poetry. His work has been translated into 25 different languages, and some poems are written in the Cheyenne language. After the release of Strong Heart Song: Lines from a Revolutionary Text (West End Press, 1997) which recounts his travels from 1986 to 1994, Henson left the United States to live in Italy.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
2 p.m., Rasmuson Theater
In celebration of National Poetry Month
Sherwin Bitsui (Diné) is originally from White Cone, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation. He is Diné of the Todich'ii'nii (Bitter Water Clan), born for the Tl'izilani (Many Goats Clan).
Bitsui holds an AFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts Creative Writing Program and is currently completing his studies at the University of Arizona. He has published his poems in American Poet, The Iowa Review, Frank (Paris), Lit Magazine, and elsewhere. His poems are also anthologized in Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century. Shapeshift (University of Arizona Press, 2003) is his first book. His poem “Birds” read at the museum in September 2005, is included in the Native Writers CD anthology, Pulling Down the Clouds.
Saturday & Sunday, May 17 & 18, 2008
2 p.m., Patron’s Lounge (4th Level)
In celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month
Noenoe Silva (Native Hawaiian) was born on the island of Oahu of Kanaka Maoli descent. She was raised in California but returned to Hawai’i in 1985. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Hawaiian language, a master's degree in library and information studies, and her doctorate in political science from the University of Hawai’i.
In 2001 Silva joined the political science department at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa where she is an associate professor. She teaches courses in indigenous politics, and Hawaiian language and culture. Her book Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism (Duke University Press, 2004) won the Baldridge Prize for best book in history.
