Kimberly Blaeser Reading with Elise Pachen & Kenzie Allen

Center for Indigenous Futures,
56 W Adams St,
Chicago, IL

IN PERSON: KINSALE DRAKE BOOK LAUNCH WITH HEID E. ERDRICH

Please join us as we welcome debut poet KINSALEDRAKE to Milkweed Books to read from her collection The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket. She will be joined by Minneapolis Poet Laureate HEID E. ERDRICH. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket traverses the Southwest landscape, exploring intricate relationships between Native peoples and the natural world, land, pop culture, twentieth-century music, and multi-generational representations. Oscillating between musical influences, including the repercussions of ethno-musicology, and the present/past/future, the collection rewrites and re-rights what it means to be Indigenous, queer, and even formerly-emo in the…

Kimberly Blaeser - Keynote Reading, “Languages of The Land,” Write On, Door County Gala

Join Esther Belin and the 2024 James Welch Prize winning poets Kara Briggs and Kateri Menominee for an in-person reading and celebration of their work. Presented in partnership with Poetry Northwest and In-Na-Po (Indigenous Nations Poets). Barrier-free entry for all

About the winners:

Kara Briggs, a citizen of the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe, descended Yakama Nation, is a poet, journalist and author who lives north of Seattle. Her forthcoming book Rivers in my Veins from St. Julian Press is her first poetry collection. She recently graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Art. As an undergraduate she studied abroad with Irish poets in Ireland. She was a national columnist for ICT and investigative journalist at The Oregonian. She is a former president of the Native American Journalists Association. Her poetry is lyrical and gives readers a view on the deep connections tribes have to their lands and waters. She writes in poetic forms, particularly Japanese forms of haiku and haibun. She also writes in the rhythms of social dance songs from her tribes. Deep in her work is a tribal political perspective that seeks to elevate the reader’s understanding of contemporary Native peoples. She serves as vice president of Ecotrust, where she leads work with tribes across the West Coast. 

Kateri Menominee writes from the smokey anchorage of Gnoozhekaning. She listens to Lofi Legend of Zelda playlists and plays Fallout.

About the judge:

2024 judge Esther Belin (Diné) is among the myriad of indigenous peoples on the planet to survive in urbanized areas. She is a graduate from the following institutions: UC Berkeley, IAIA, Antioch University. She considers the following locations her homeland: LA, Durango, Diné bike’yah. Her writing and art grows from an is an offering to the collective humanity, bila’ ashdla’ii. Esther is the author of two poetry books and coeditor of The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature. Belin’s visual art combines a variety of disciplines and works to reframe the mythical primitivism often associated with Indigenous cultures. She is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and lives on the Colorado side of the four corners. Belin is a member of Saad Bee Hózhǫ́:Diné Writers’ Collective, and teaches in the Native American and Indigenous Studies department at Fort Lewis College and in the low-residency MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. 

About the Prize:

Poetry Northwest’s James Welch Prize for Indigenous Poets is awarded for two outstanding poems, each written by an Indigenous U.S. poet. The prize is named for Blackfeet and Gros Ventre writer James Welch, whose early poems were featured in Poetry Northwest and who went on to become one of the region’s most important writers.

Finalists selected by poets from the board and advisory committee of In-Na-Po (Indigenous Nations Poets) with the editors of Poetry Northwest:

Mary Leauna Christensen  |  Kinsale Drake  |  Max Early  |  Chris Hoshnic  |  Ibe Liebenberg  |  Casandra Lopez  |  Malia Maxwell  |  Michael Wasson

Live from Storyknife featuring IN-NA-PO fellow Kale Kim.

Indigenous Nations Poets: Poetry Reading

The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC), in partnership with Indigenous Nations Poets (IN-NA-PO) is honored to present an evening of poetry readings with this year’s IN-NA-PO fellows and visiting writers. Capping off their week-long retreat at MHC, a group of IN-NA-PO fellows and visiting writers will share some of their original work and engage each other and the audience in conversation. Hosting this event will be former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Kimberly Blaeser, City of Minneapolis Poet Laureate Heid E. Erdrich, and Minnesota Poet Laureate Gwen Nell Westerman.

Presenting Fellows include:
Bonney Hartley
Sunni Parisien
Anangookwe Wolf
Tacey Atsitty
Anthony Ceballos
Kinsale Drake
Kale Kim

In the spirit of nourishing our bodies and our minds, prior to the event, we invite you to join us for a complimentary community meal. Books will be available for purchase at the event through Birchbark Books, and book signing will take place after event activities have ended.