Fwd: Native Nations, Native Voices

[d_z_o]

FYI...  DZO

--- In MINEL at yahoogroups.com, "gordonbronitsky" <g.bronitsky at att.net>
wrote:

I am working to create Native Nations, Native Voices--a festival to
honor contemporary Native language writers. To honor Native language
authors, Native language writers have been invited to participate in
a week-long festival. Writers will read from their works in their own
languages; National language translations will be made available to
the audience at the option of each writer. A special effort has been
made to include and honor high school and college authors in Native
languages, for they are the future of languages. Selected writers
represent as broad a range of languages and styles as possible.

Over 500 Native Nations, each with its own language and culture.
These are the Nations which were encountered by the first Europeans
to enter North America. Yet now Native languages are under threat
everywhere, due to Euro-American educational policies, disease, and
the virtual omnipresence of English language television. Some
languages are extinct--from Guale to Esalen, from Eyak to Timucuan.
Others are only spoken by a handful of elderly individuals.

Yet throughout Native America and beyond, a small but growing body of
writers are giving new voice to Native languages, using their own
languages to write about and confront the world they live in, the
world of the Twenty First Century. Often unknown outside their own
communities, such writers have much to say to all of us.

Right now, participants include
1. Greenland--Jokum Nielsen (Kalaallisut [Greenlandic])
2. Canada--Floyd Favel (Cree), Peter Irniq (Inuktitut)
3. United States--Eveline Battiest Steele (Choctaw), Nia Francisco
and Nora Yazzie (Navajo), Dominik Tsosie (outstanding high school
writer--Navajo), Virgil Reeder. (Kawaikagamedzene [Laguna Pueblo]),
Frances Washburn (Lakota)
4. Hawai'i--Kainani Kahaunaele, Larry Kimura (Hawai'ian)
5. Saipan--Frances Sablan (Chamorro)
6. Guam--Peter Onedera (Chamorro)
7. Mexico--Jesus Salinas Pedraza (Nyahnyu [Otomi]), Diego Méndez Guzm
(Tzeltal Maya), Ruperta Bautista Vazquez (Tzotzil Maya), Jun Tiburcio
(Totonac)
8. Peru--Martin Castillo (Quechua), Felix Julca (Quechua)
9. Brazil--Nanbl?Grakan (Xokleng)

Might this be of interest? Naturally I would be happy to provide more
information or answer any questions you might have.
Thank you.

Yours,

Gordon Bronitsky, PhD
Bronitsky and Associates
3715 La Hacienda Dr NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110

505-256-0260
e-mail g.bronitsky at att.net


--- End forwarded message ---