11 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
runner Dancing (1973); Long Division: A Tribal History (1976); Academic Squaw:
Reports to the World from the Ivory Tower (1977); Lost Copper (1980), nominated
for the Pulitzer Prize; What Happened When the Hopi Hit New York (1982); Bone
Dance: New and Selected Poems, 1965–1992 (1994); and Itch Like Crazy (2002).
Greg Sarris (1952– )
Writer of Miwok/Pomo/Filipino and German-Jewish/Irish descent, best known
for Keeping Slug Woman Alive: A Holistic Approach to American Indian Texts (1993);
Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream (1994); Grand Avenue: A Novel in Stories (1994),
adapted as an HBO miniseries; and the novel Watermelon Nights (1998).
Luci Tapahonso (1953– )
Navajo poet and short-story writer whose collections include Seasonal Woman
(1982), A Breeze Swept Through (1987), Sáani Dahataał: The Women Are Singing
(1993), Blue Horses Rush In (1997), and A Radiant Curve (2008). In 1995 she was
named “Storyteller of the Year” by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers.
David Treuer (1970– )
Novelist and critic of Ojibwa and Jewish descent. He is the author of the novels
Little (1995), The Hiawatha (1999), and The Translation of Dr. Apellas (2006), as
well as Native American Fiction: A User’s Manual (2006).
Gerald Vizenor (1934– )
Minnesota Chippewa poet, novelist, literary critic, and native theorist known
for his Postmodernist sensibilities. His books include Darkness in Saint Louis
Bearheart (1978; revised as Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles, 1990); The Heirs
of Columbus (1991); Griever: An American Monkey King in China (1987), winner
of the American Book Award; and Manifest Manners: Postindian Warriors of Sur-
vivance (1999). He also edited Narrative Chance: Postmodern Discourse on Native
American Indian Literatures (1993).
James Welch (1940–2003)
Blackfoot who won the American Book Award for his novel Fools Crow (1986).
He is also the author of the poetry collection Riding the Earthboy 40 (1970); the
novels Winter in the Blood (1974), The Death of Jim Loney (1979), and The Indian
Lawyer (1990); and the nonfiction work Killing Custer: The Battle of Little Bighorn
and the Fate of the Plains Indians (1994).
—Kathryn West