Native Peoples / January-February 2015 / Resolution to Read

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Resolution to Read

Institute of American Indian Arts hosts Sherman Alexie, Joy Harjo, others for Writers Festival this week in Santa Fe.

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Looking to build your 2015 reading list? If you’re in New Mexico, you can do just that by starting off the New Year at the Institute of American Indian Arts, where the school will host an all-star line-up of award-winning authors for a week of readings at its campus south of Santa Fe.

The IAIA Writers Festival runs Jan. 3-9, promising a literary evening with different writers every night. Readings begin at 6 p.m.

The festival highlights the school’s new MFA creative writing track, with 12 participating authors who also are writing instructors in the program.

All readings are free and open to the public, although RSVPs are required for a reading and discussion with National Book Award-winner Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Couer d’Alene). After speaking before a packed house last year, the author of Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and other great works returns to the festival stage for a second year on Friday, Jan. 9.

In the middle of the week, screenwriter and director Sterlin Harjo (Muscogee/Seminole) will screen his documentary This May Be the Last Time (www.thismaybethelasttime.com), which interweaves the history of his tribal nations’ hymns with the story of the disappearance of his grandfather.

“We’ve got a great lineup for the second Writers Festival, with old friends reading new work and some new faces,” Jon Davis, director of IAIA’s MFA in Creative Writing and Santa Fe Poet Laureate, said in a release. “This promises to be even more exciting than the very popular first festival.”

IAIA’s MFA program is the only one in the country that focuses on Native American literature and authors, according to the school. It was featured in Native Peoples in May.

Screenwriter Sterlin Harjo participates in the IAIA festival on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015.

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It’s a program that the school hopes, in the long term, will prove to be a game changer in the Native American literary world, where many say there are still far too few Native voices.

“It’s a place for Native Americans to come, have this camaraderie with other Native writers and to have this sense of community that we so desperately need to feel safe,” Alexie told the magazine earlier this year.

Click here for the festival schedule.

Here's a partial list of writers participating in the festival and links to their work for those looking to build their reading list:

Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Couer d’Alene): Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Reservation Blues, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The Toughest Indian in the World. We could go on and on listing all the great works of Alexie's. Links to his available e-books are here for those extra eager to get started on reading or revisiting any of his works: http://fallsapart.com/electronic-books/

Joy Harjo (Mvskoke): Here at Native Peoples magazine, we've identified Harjo (pictured left) as one of the strongest Native American voices in past reviews. Her memoir, Crazy Brave, is a must read: http://joyharjo.com/crazy-brave/.

Sherwin Bitsui (Navajo): The author of several poetry collections and IAIA grad whose work can be found by reading more here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sherwin-bitsui

Santee Frazier (Cherokee): This award-winning poet's fist collection was published in 2009. Find out more about it here: http://santeefrazier.com/dark-thirty/

Linda Hogan (Chickasaw): Her recently published Dark Sweet is on our editor's reading list. It's published by Coffee House Press: http://coffeehousepress.org/shop/dark-sweet-2/.

–Native Peoples