Acclaimed Native American author to read from his works at PSU

  Friday, October 18, 2013 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Acclaimed Native American author to read from his works at PSU

Simon Ortiz, an award-winning Native American writer and educator, will read from his work at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24, in the Balkans Room of the Overman Student Center on the Pittsburg State University campus. Ortiz’s visit is part of PSU’s Distinguished Visiting Writers Series and is free and open to the public.

Simon Ortiz mug shotOrtiz is the author of many books, including “Woven Stone,” “Going for the Rain,” “Speaking for the Generations,” “From Sand Creek,” “Out There Somewhere,” “Fight Back: For the Sake of the People and the Land,” and “Men on the Moon: Collected Short Stories.” He has been awarded the New Mexico Humanities Council Humanitarian Award, the National Endowment for the Arts Discovery Award, the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writer's Award, and has received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Ortiz is a Regents Professor of English and American Indian Studies at Arizona State University.

"I write down the experience of being an Indian in America,” Ortiz said in an interview with the journal Canku Ota. "Poetry is language. It is the way I perceive what is around me. The language of poetry helps me locate myself and be certain of what I am doing. Hopefully, people can see something of themselves. I tell you about me and my world, so you may be able to see yourself."

“We’re all thrilled to have Simon Ortiz visit the campus,” said Kathleen De Grave, a member of the PSU English Department faculty who teaches courses in Native American Literature. “He is a major, major writer.”

Following the reading, there will be a reception where many of Ortiz’s books will be available for purchase. The Distinguished Visiting Writers Series is sponsored by the PSU English Department and the Student Fee Council.


Categories

Archives

Connect With Us