Joseph Bruchac will receive the Tulsa Library Trust’s “Festival of Words Writers Award” March 7, 10:30 a.m., at Hardesty Regional Library’s Connor’s Cove, 8316 E. 93rd St. His award presentation will be followed by a book signing and a day of educational American Indian family events from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
The award, presented every other year, consists of a $5,000 honorarium and an engraved crystal. Previous winners include: 2001, Joy Harjo (Muscogee Creek); 2003, Vine DeLoria Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux); 2005, Leslie Marmon-Silko (Laguna Pueblo) 2007, Carter Revard (Osage); 2011, LeAnne Howe, (Choctaw) and 2013, Sterlin Harjo, (Seminole/Muscogee Creek).
Bruchac is a traditional storyteller and author of more than 120 books often reflecting his American Indian (Abenaki) ancestry and the Adirondack Region of northern New York. He lives in the house that he was raised in by his grandparents. It was in this house, which his grandmother filled with books, where his love of storytelling began. His Abenaki grandfather would take him into the woods and quietly teach him about the natural world in ways that were connected to their native heritage. He would tell a young Bruchac about logging, working with horses and hunting. Bruchac uses these memories as the foundation for his books and storytelling that serve in the preservation of Abenaki culture, language and traditional Native skills.
“The only time he even mentioned the word ‘Indian’ was when he told me, more than once, how he left school in the fourth grade, jumping out the window and never coming back because they kept calling him a ‘dirty Indian,’” recalled Bruchac. “I had to go outside my own immediate family to hear those stories, which for some reason I was always eager to hear. Because of his dark skin and very Indian appearance, he dealt with prejudice often during his life and that made him reticent to speak directly about being Indian.”
Bruchac’s poems, articles and stories have appeared in over 500 publications, from National Geographic and American Poetry Review to Smithsonian Magazine. His honors include a Rockefeller Humanities fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Writing Fellowship for Poetry, the Cherokee National Prose Award among others. In 1999, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas.
He holds a B.A. in English from Cornell University, an M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Syracuse and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute of Ohio.
Bruchac’s latest novel is “Killer of Enemies,” a young adult post-apocalyptic novel following 17-year-old Apache hunter Lozen and her quest of survival and renewal. It received the 2014 Native American Librarians Association Award.
He and his two grown sons, James and Jesse, work together on projects involving the preservation of Native culture, Native language renewal, teaching traditional Native skills and environmental education. His newest books include a picture book, “Rabbit’s Snow Dance,” written with his son James and a bilingual collection of poems in English and Abenaki, “Nisnol Siboal/Two Rivers,” written with his younger son Jesse.
Family events during the Festival of Words events include:
Genealogy Tours, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Tour Tulsa City County Library’s Genealogy Center which houses one of the largest collections of genealogy materials in Oklahoma. The Center maintains a large collection of Native American records along with other family history research materials. Genealogy Center staff will be available to answer your questions.
Native Culture Maker Spaces, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Come and enjoy a day of make and take. Participants will get to take the projects home that they make.
- Pottery by Crystal Hanna
- Beaded Key Chains by Michel Laudermilk
- Basket Weaving by Sue Fish
- Seminole Patchwork by Tom Barnett and Lana Brown
of Semehobya Patchworks
- Corn Husk Dolls by Stella Foster
Canoe Exhibit, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Learn how Dennis Underwood and his family created an early 18th-century style dugout canoe.
Children’s Crafts, 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Children’s Area, First Floor
Birds of Honor/Birds of Prey: The Unique and Vital Roles They Play!, 11:45 a.m. & 12:30 p.m., Frossard Auditorium. Come and enjoy the birds of the Iowa Tribe’s Grey Snow Eagle House (Bah Kho-Je Xla Chi). Don’t miss this opportunity to see a bald eagle, red-tail hawk, and a falcon! Pictures are welcome.
The Fiddle Dance, 12:45 p.m. Experience this pre-removal social dance of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Come and support the efforts to bring this dormant tradition back to life again! Audience participation is encouraged.
Dancing Eagles, 1:30 p.m. Mike and Lisa Pahsetopah will perform spectacular Native American dances and traditional storytelling. This entertaining and educational performance will include specialty, traditional and social dances. Audience participation is encouraged.
“National Champion Indian Tacos” Monie Horsechief of Horsechief Catering will have her award-winning creations available for purchase throughout the Festival of Words.
Sponsors for the American Indian Festival of Words include the Tulsa Library Trust, Tulsa City-County Library’s American Indian Resource Center and Staff Association, the Maxine and Jack Zarrow Family Foundation, Cherokee Builders, Inc., and Dr. Frank and Mary Shaw, Additional support provided by The Mary K. Chapman Foundation and George Kaiser Family Foundation.
For more information on library programming, call the AskUs Hotline, 918-549-7323, or visit the library’s website, www.tulsalibrary.org.
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