The Twin Cities Daily Planet numbers the many ways that Native American writers in the Midwest are thriving. From the recent debut of the stage version of Louise Erdrich's novel, Master Butchers Singing Club to Linda LeGarde Grover's novel The Dance Boots winning the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, there seems to be a lot of movement--and interesting art--unfolding here lately. And it is fueled by a strong community of literary arts organizations. From the article:
One great thing about the Twin Cities (said Heid, Louise Erdrich's sister and herself a writer who has a play opening this month via Pangea World Theater), is that there are a number institutions—publication houses and theaters, for example—that are particularly supportive of Native writers. For example, Milkweed Editions has a new book out by Eric Gansworth called Extra Indians. Holy Cow Press and Coffee House Press also have typically supported Native writers, as have some local periodicals, such as the specifically Native Yellow Medicine Review and Loon Feather Press.
Birchbark Books, a bookstore owned by Louise Erdrich, gives special emphasis to Native voices. Located in Minneapolis's Kenwood neighborhood, the bookstore is one of the few bookstores in the country that are as devoted to authentic and traditional Native American writers, according to store manager Susan White. "We try to be purist about it," she said. According to White, "If you are a Native writer and you are in the United States remotely near the Midwest, you come here and do an event."
There is also Birchbark House Nonprofit, the mission of which is to print material in Native languages. The organization publishes Anishinabe, Dakota, and other Native language books and promotes Native language learning.
Birchbark's publishing house, Wigwassi Press, has three books currently in distribution: one by Jim Clark, which contains stories in English and Anishinabe; one by Anton Treuer, which is written entirely in the Anishinabe language; and most recently they have published Awesiinyensag, a book of stories by various Anishinabe authors.
Besides the bookstore, Native American writing groups provide an opportunity for Native writers to get together and support each other's work. Ardie Medina, associate development director at The Loft Literary Center, has run TGI Frybread, the Native writers' group at the loft since February of 2008. ...
I'd add to this count of groups that that have cued this creative fire in the Midwest the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers & Storytellers at Michigan State University and Haskell Indian Nationas University's English Department. In addition to anchoring literary organizations, there are also anchoring Native American artists. Louise Erdrich is one, obviously, as well as Jim Northrup, who is profiled in a separate article in the Daily Planet. Northrup is a poet and writes a monthly award-winning syndicated column ("Fond du Lac Follies"). His books include Walking the Rez Road and Rez Road Follies. From the profile:
"I'm a Midwest celebrity," Northrup says, but his influence extends far from his home of the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation in northeastern Minnesota. Since the 1980s, his speaking and teaching appearances has taken him to Taos Film Festival and an interview at BBC-Scotland.
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