ARTIST BIO

Pena Bonita (Mescalero Apache) is a writer of short stories & poetry. She has been a regular contributor of both fiction and non-fiction to TALKING STICK Native Arts Quarterly since 1999. A prolific writer, Pena has also written essays and a full-length screenplay. Born and raised in the southwest, she now lives in New York City where she is a founding member of the American Indian Writers’ Workshop and is active in the national Native American arts community. Ms. Bonita began her artistic career as a visual artist and later photographer where she has exhibited and lectured extensively in the US & Canada. Her work is reflective of Native American values and experiences. In 2004 she was a recipient of the National Foundation Book Award. She is currently working on a critical essay for the forthcoming literary non-fiction anthology, SOVEREIGN BONES, to be published by Nation Books in the fall of 2007.

Web Site: www.amerinda.org/newsletter/tssearch_author.html

The following is an excerpt from:

Serious Money
By Pena Bonita © 2006

Learning to be a man sometimes takes a burning sun, dying of thirst and getting lots of blisters. The more blisters, the smarter the man.

Mom says I'm like a piece of Salvation Army furniture that don't fit anywhere.

SHORT STORIES

After No Where,
Don't Wanna Go
Drunk For Years
Explain This
Indian Time on Route 66
Let the Candle Flicker
Lotto Baby
Robot Indian
In The Wee Hours
The Visitor - TALKING STICK Native Arts Quarterly, Vol. 6.4, 2003
Serious Money - TALKING STICK Native Arts Quarterly, Vol. 9.2, 2006

POETRY

Pena's Search in Pen & Paint

SCREENPLAY

Drunk Angels Crossing

AWARDS

National Foundation Book Award - 2004

EDUCATION:

Hunter College, NY, NY -BA-1979, MFA-1995 New York Community College, Brooklyn, NY, AA - Commercial Arts, 1973