A group of Native writers have been meeting and giving voice to their spirits for over a year. The Native American Writer’s Circle meets every two weeks on Thursday evenings at 7:00p.m. at the American Indian Community House, New York, NY. The writer’s group includes Norman Fillmore (Washoe/Paiute); Barbara Snyder, pen name: Morning Dawn (Washoe/Paiute); Elvira Colorado (Chichimec-Otomi); Hortensia Colorado (Chichimec-Otomi); Dean Hutchins (Cherokee); Candice Tarpley (Blackfoot/Tsalagi); and Pena Bonita (Mescalero Apache). These seven writers came together by circumstance
in Spring 1998, when the noted Pueblo poet Simon Ortiz hosted a week-long
writers workshop and have been meeting and working ever since. Elvira
Colorado said that “the initial workshop session with Mr. Ortiz
was very unusual in that we didn’t actually write anything.”
Instead, participants talked about their need to give voice to their
stories and find the path to unlock their hearts. By the end of the
week they had each brought in a piece they had been inspired to write
and read it to Ortiz and the group. He followed them by reading a piece
he had written during the week and the process had begun. It is now
thirteen months later and the group is still meeting and writing. >please
click on name for example of poetry in the following paragraph< >Candice
Tarpley< explains that the the group collectively
decides on a topic. Each participant writes and shares prose or poetry
with the group, and their work is discussed and improved upon as a result
of the group process. The writing can take the form of poetry, prose,
short stories and “short pieces which don’t really have a
word that can define their style” as >Pena
Bonita< describes. An essential part of the process
for group members has been to discover which voice is unique to each
of the members. >Norman
Fillmore< stated that he ”started out writing
poetry, but wasn’t very good at it.” Now he writes short stories
which he intends on giving to his sister and his children. Hortensia
Colorado writes everything from poetry to short stories to just putting
down thoughts on paper to use in her plays. >Barbara
Snyder< says that her writing is limited to poetry
whereas this is the first time >Dean
Hutchins< has ever written poetry. His focus
has always been short stories.
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BY AMY TALLCHIEF |
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