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An
Indian walks in me. Marilou Awiakta |
October
15-17 |
The Center for Women's Studies at West Virginia University is pleased to announce that Marilou Awiakta will be the women's studies resident this fall. Awiakta (she prefers to be known just as Awiakta) is an Appalachian/Cherokee writer who resides in Memphis, Tennessee. She will be on campus for the Eastern Woodland Indians conference held here October 12-14, and the residency will follow on October 15-17. Her public lecture will be October 16th in the evening. Because Awiakta grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, she is very interested in the blending of nuclear science with Cherokee traditions. Awiakta, a breast cancer survivor, is also very interested in ways to blend spiritual healing and high tech medical practices. Awiakta is the author of Abiding Appalachia: Where Mountain and Atom Meet; Rising Fawn and the Fire Mystery: A Story of Heritage, Family and Courage, 1833 (a book for children), and Selu: Seeking the Corn-Mother's Wisdom. Alice Walker has described Selu as "A book so wise and true it might have been written by Selu herself. And perhaps it was." Gloria Steinem says that "Marilou Awiakta is one of the rare writers whose words help readers see the world in a different way. Her weaving of essays, stories, and poems in Selu: Seeking the Corn-Mother's Wisdom creates the sense of an ancient knowledge being brought to bear on modern problems." Her work
has also appeared in Alice Walker's In Search of Our Mother's Gardens
and in Steinem's Revolution from Within. Awiakta has been
featured in three PBS programs: Natchez Trace: Pathway to Parkway;
Voices of Memory: The Oral Tradition; and Telling Tales. Her
work has been translated into French and published as Poesie Premiere.
She received the Outstanding Contribution to Appalachian Literature Award
in 1991. She has also been active in social and environmental issues,
including the problem of nuclear waste disposal. |
Online resources by or about Marilou Awiakta:
Mother Nature Sends a Pink Slip Written by Marilou Awiakta "Recited at the "Memphis Gathering for Unity" honoring the Sunbow5 Walkers."
Sunrise in Cyberspace - Article on BEME.com
Native American Authors Project
Recipient of the 2000 Apalachian Heritage Writers Award and Shepherd College Writer-in-Residence
Marilou Awiakta's cultural and scientific heritage permeates her writing. By Vicki Slagle Johns
 |
Center for Women's Studies
PO Box 6450 West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 26506-6450 Phone: (304) 293-2339 Fax: (304) 293-3041 wmst@mail.as.wvu.edu |
