Honor Native American and Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month alongside AWP this November. AWP recognizes the strife and centuries of injustice carried out upon Native American and Indigenous American peoples and November’s significance in historical colonization. AWP embraces an inclusive, equitable, and level literary community that acknowledges the importance of elevating and providing a platform for often-suppressed voices. Please join us in taking time this November to honor Native American and Indigenous authors, their history, and cultural practices. We have assembled a list of educational resources, past Writer’s Chronicle articles, and online events to attend this November to broaden your cultural worldview.

Don’t forget to browse through our bookshop.org list honoring Native American and Indigenous American authors and poets.

Rewatch Past Events

National Book Critics Circle Presents: Louise Erdrich at #AWP20

#AWP21 Keynote Address with Joy Harjo

From The Writer’s Chronicle

Intersections in Canadian and American Indian Fiction by Erika T. Wurth, April 2021

A Coherent Shape to Brokenness: The 2021 AWP Conference & Bookfair Keynote Address by Joy Harjo, September 2021

Against the Typography of Colonization: Decolonization Through & of the Printed Text by Contemporary Indigenous Poets by Beatrice Szymkowiak, February 2022

Resources:

The National Parks Services has a great website section full of history, events, and educational resources.

Learn about the origins of Native American History Month.

PBS has a vault of videos dedicated to telling Native/Indigenous American cultural stories, including one featuring poet Joy Harjo.

The National Archives hosts a variety of Native American and Indigenous American resources, including document scans, research resources, historical records, and more.

Learn about the variety of tribes that once spanned great distances across the United States.

Events:

All events are listed in ET.

Tuesday, November 1

8:00–9:30 p.m.— Washington DC History & Culture presents a Smithsonian American Indian Museum / N.A. Heritage Month Livestream Tour! Honor Native American Heritage Month by tuning in to this special online event. Robert Kelleman will be hosting this tour. Learn more about Native American cultural history but also the design and layout of the museum. This event offers free registration.  

Thursday, November 3

12:00—1:00 p.m.— Join Oakland Community College as they host: Myths and Misnomers About Native American Culture. Learn about myths and untruthful information surrounding Native American identity, and delve into how our broader culture can harbor colloquial or uninformed information surrounding Indigeneity. Registration is free, and this event will take place online. The presentation video will only be available to view from Saturday, November 5^th, at noon until Saturday, November 12, for registered attendees.

Saturday, November 5

2:00 p.m.— Waukee Public Library presents American Indian Values for the 21st Century. This event will provide insight into the worldview of American Indian people and will include a comparison of Euro-American and Indian American cultural worldviews. Wynema Morris, professor at the Nebraska Indian Community College and member of the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, will lead this discussion. Registration is free, and this event will premiere online. The video will only be available to view from Saturday, November 5^th, at noon until Saturday, November 12, for registered attendees.

Thursday, November 10

9:00–10:30 p.m.— Learn more about Native American history and culture through the event: On Two-Spirit Identity and Cultural Expression, hosted by CIIS Public Programs. The conversation will be hosted by Landa Lakes, a Chickasaw writer, musician, activist, and artist and Dr. Roger Kuhn is a Poarch Creek Two-Spirit Indigequeer soma-cultural sex therapist. Registration is free, and this event will take place online.

Tuesday, November 15

12:00–1:00 p.m.— Join Oakland Community College for another educational event: Thanksgiving From a Native American Perspective. Learn how to approach the holiday of Thanksgiving through a culturally responsible lens with Dr. Browning Neddeau. Registration is free, and this event will take place online.

Wednesday, November 16

7:00–8:00 p.m.— The Fenimore Art Museum presents Zoom Talk: Susan Fenimore Cooper's Reckoning w/Native American Dispossession. Leading the conversation is researcher and professor Rochelle Johnson, who will describe Cooper’s growing understanding of the Native American peoples of the region she called home. Registration is free, but event organizers ask that attendees make a small donation to the Fenimore Museum. This event will also take place virtually.