Native American poet Joy Harjo to speak
 Poet Joy Harjo will give a reading Nov. 12 |
The presentation is a part of the university’s recognition and support of National American Indian Heritage month, and is free and open to students, faculty and the general public.
Blending Native American stories, urban narratives told from the female perspective and a voiced access to a living oral tradition, Harjo has become known as the international poetic voice of the American Indian. She has published seven books of acclaimed poetry, including She Had Some Horses, In Mad Love and War, and The Woman Who Fell From the Sky. The Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers named Harjo the 2003-2004 Writer of the Year for her collection titled, Poetry for How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2001.
Harjo has also received such honors as the 1997 New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America.
“This is such a unique opportunity for SUNY Fredonia,” said Heather Critoph, a graduate assistant within the university’s Center for Multicultural Affairs. “It’s a great honor to have such a well-known poet and artist share her voice and experiences with us during National American Indian Heritage Month.”
Harjo is also an award-winning children’s author and a poet/saxophonist who has produced several music CDs. The first, Letter from the End of the 20th Century, was honored by the First Americans in the Arts for Outstanding Musical Achievement, and Pulse magazine called it, “the best dub poetry album recorded in North America.” Her other titles include Native Joy for Real, and the newly released Winding through the Milky Way. She has performed internationally, from the Arctic Circle in Norway, to Madras, India, to the Ford Theater in Los Angeles. Harjo was also the narrator for National Geographic’s Emmy award-winning show, Navajo Codetalkers.
Harjo’s other accomplishments include co-producer and talent of the music video, “Eagle Song,” nominated for best music video at the 2002 American Indian Film Festival, which awarded her the Eagle Spirit Achievement Award that year. She has served on the National Council on the Arts, is the Joseph Russo endowed professor at the University of New Mexico, and, when not teaching and performing, lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, where she is a member of the Hui Nalu Canoe Club.
Harjo’s presentation and poetry reading is sponsored by The Native American Student Union, in collaboration with the Native American SUNY Western Consortium, SUNY Fredonia English department, Pride Alliance, and the Women's Student Union.
For more information on Joy Harjo, visit www.joyharjo.com.
