ALASKA NATIVE WRITERS EVENT SET FOR NOV. 15

Submitted by Kimberley Gray
Anchorage, AK
Nov. 12, 2003

Three of Alaska's best-known Native writers will be featured in a panel discussion this weekend at UAA, along with work by Native writers of the past.

"Alaska Native Writers: Strengthening the Spirit," set for Saturday, Nov. 15 at the UAA Campus Bookstore, features authors Velma Wallis, Jan Harper Haines and Loretta Outwater Cox. Martha Upicksoun Feenstra will moderate a panel discussion among the three, who will focus on the responsibilities, difficulties and rewards of writing hard truths about family and community. They will also reflect on the role of contemporary Native authors, and the rise of a new written tradition from the oral tradition followed by Native peoples for thousands of years.

The free event begins at 10 a.m. with a light brunch and an opportunity for the authors to sign their books. After the panel discussion, members of the Alaska Native Oratory Society will present renditions of dramatic readings by Native American writers. Lorrie Conn, Matthew Gilbert and David Karabelnikoff will also invite questions from the audience about their presentations. AkNOS works with high school and university students to enhance speaking skills and explore current Native issues.

The UAA Campus Bookstore will also have displays of books by and about Alaska Natives. Campus parking is free on Saturday.

Wallis is one of Alaska's best-known writers. A Gwich'in Athabascan from Fort Yukon, she is the author of "Two Old Women," "Bird Girl & The Man Who Followed the Sun," and "Raising Ourselves." "Raising Ourselves," a deeply penetrating look at her childhood in a family scarred by alcoholism, earned Wallis the 2003 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.

Harper Haines is the author of "Cold River Spirits," based on the lives of her Athabascan mother and grandmother who lived on the Yukon River. She is a graduate of the University of Alaska, where her mother was the first Native graduate in 1935. Harper Haines now lives and writes in northern California.

Outwater Cox is an Inupiaq Eskmo, born in Nome and raised on the Seward Peninsula. "The Winter Walk," her first book, was released in October. It is a family story that had been handed down from generation to generation, about a pregnant woman's harrowing journey through the wilderness with her young children. Outwater Cox and her family now live in Fairbanks.

"Alaska Native Writers: Strengthening the Spirit" is sponsored by Alaska Center for the Book, University of Alaska Anchorage Campus Bookstore, South Central Native Educators Association, and the Alaska Native Oratory Society. This event is held in celebration of American Indian/Alaska Native Heritage Month. "Strengthening the Spirit""is the theme for events held throughout the month of November, 2003, honoring and recognizing the original peoples of this land. A listing of events can be found on the SCNEA web site at www.scnea.org.

For more information on this event, contact Alaska Center for the Book at 345-2363.