Bruchac, Joseph; 1988-09-20

Biography: Poet and storyteller Joseph Bruchac was born in Greenfield Center, New York. He earned his BA from Cornell University, MA from Syracuse, and PhD in comparative literature from the Union Institute of Ohio. He is the author of more than 120 books for adults and children, including Tell Me a Tale: A Book About Storytelling (1997); The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story (1993); Keepers of the Earth (1988), which he coauthored with Michael Caduto; his autobiography, Bowman’s Store: A Journey to Myself (1997); and novels for young readers such as Dawn Land (1993) and The Heart of a Chief (1998). In his work, Bruchac explores his Abenaki ancestry and Native American storytelling traditions. His honors and awards include fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a Cherokee Nation Prose Award, a Knickerbocker Award, a Hope S. Dean Award for Notable Achievement in Children’s Literature, and both Writer of the Year and Storyteller of the Year awards from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas. Bruchac founded the Greenfield Review Literary Center and the Greenfield Review Press and has edited a number of anthologies of poetry and fiction, including Breaking Silence (1983), which won an American Book Award. Bruchac has performed across the United States and internationally and has been storyteller-in-residence for Native American schools, including the Institute of Alaska Native Arts and the Onondaga Nation School. He lives in the house where his maternal grandparents raised him, in Greenfield Center. -Poetry Foundation, Joseph Bruchac, 2020-09-1

Reading: Joseph Bruchac

In this audiovisual recording from March 16, 1999 as part of the 30th annual UND Writers Conference: “Expressing the Sacred,” Joseph Bruchac shares his art of Abenaki flute, drum, and storytelling. He shares an indigenous creation story, poetry, stories of his travels and relationships with influential figures from tribes across the country. Bruchac also performs several drum songs to demonstrate the sacredness of the connection between song and stories and fields audience questions about his sense of oral tradition. Introduced by Dr. Greg Gagnon

Hidden Roots

https://stars.library.ucf.edu/diversefamilies/1129/thumbnail.jp

Panel: Defining the Sacred

In this audiovisual recording from March 16, 1999 of the 30th annual UND Writers Conference: “Expressing the Sacred” panel “Defining the Sacred,” moderated by Jeanne Anderegg. Joseph Bruchac, Mark Doty, and Terry Tempest Williams engage in a discussion of their sense of what is sacred. They explore their senses of existentialism through experiences of grace, love, and transcendence, and examine the intersection of writing and sacredness. The panel also discusses the literature that taught them about sacredness and transcendence. The authors also answer questions from the audience about forms of art and hear audience perceptions of cross-cultural sacredness. Introduced by Dr. James McKenzie

Panel: Faith and the Sacred

This audiovisual recording from March 17, 1999 as part of the 30th annual UND Writers Conference: “Expressing the Sacred” features Joseph Bruchac, Mark Doty, Robert Clark, and Terry Tempest Williams forming the panel “Faith and the Sacred.” The panelists discuss their notions of faith, the role of history and science on the common perception of faith, writing as an act of faith, the relationship between faith and religion, environmentalism and the role of religion on environmental damage, the documentation and exploitation of indigenous sacred traditions for the purposes of knowledge, the responsibility of writers to foster positive growth. Bruchac also plays part of an Abenaki medicine song. Moderator: Rebecca Moore