Joy Harjo (1951– )
Muscogee (Creek) poet and musician who plays saxophone with her band, Poetic
Justice.
Frank Herbert (1920–1986)
Highly acclaimed science-fiction writer whose best-known work, Dune (1965), is
the first of a series that includes Dune Messiah (1969), Children of Dune (1976), God
Emperor of Dune (1981), Heretics of Dune (1984), and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985).
Maxine Kumin (1925– )
Poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for her collection Up Country.
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929– )
Science-fiction writer who received the Hugo and Nebula Awards for The Left
Hand of Darkness (1969) and for The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia (1974).
In 1972 she won the National Book Award for The Farthest Shore, part of her
Earthsea Trilogy.
Denise Levertov (1923–1997)
Politically active poet and essayist who was born in England and immigrated to
the United States in 1948. Her poetry collections include Relearning the Alphabet
(1970), Footprints: Poems (1972), and A Door in the Hive (1989).
Barry Lopez (1945– )
Writer of nonfiction prose and novels best known for Arctic Dreams: Imagina-
tion and Desire in a Northern Landscape (1986), which won the National Book
Award.
Peter Matthiessen (1927– )
Naturalist and writer known for The Snow Leopard (1978), a National Book
Award nonfiction winner; In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (1983); and Shadow Country
(2008), a National Book Award fiction winner.
Mary Oliver (1935– )
Acclaimed poet whose works include the Pulitzer Prize–winning American
Primitive (1983) and the National Book Award–winning New and Selected Poems
(1992). In 1998 she received the Lannan Literary Award for poetry.
Louis Owens (1948–2002)
Literary scholar and a writer known for novels that draw from his mixed Choctaw,
Cherokee, and Irish background, including Wolfsong (1995), Bone Game (1996),
and the American Book Award winner Nightland (1996). His criticism includes
Other Destinies: Understanding the Native American Novel (1992) and Mixedblood
Messages: Literature, Film, Family, Place (2001).
Gary Snyder (1930– )
Poet and activist who draws inspiration from nature and non-Western philoso-
phies; his works include Turtle Island (1974), which won the Pulitzer Prize, and
Mountains and Rivers without End (1996), which was awarded the Bollingen
Prize.