Seeking aboriginal language authors

Over 500 native nations, each with its own language and culture – these are the nations that 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, 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 21st century. Often unknown outside their own communities, such writers have much to say to all of us.

I am working with the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center of Albuquerque, New Mexico to create Native Nations, Native Voices – a festival to honor contemporary Native language writers.

To honor native language authors, 10 writers will be invited to participate in a three-day festival. Writers will read from their works in their own languages; English translations will be made available to the audience at the option of each writer.

A special effort will be made to include and honour high school and college authors in native languages, for they are the future of languages. Selected writers will represent as broad a range of languages and styles as possible. I would welcome any suggestions you might have about native language writers – prose, poetry, drama – who might be interested in participating.

Gordon Bronitsky, PhD
Bronitsky and Associates
3715 La Hacienda Dr. NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110
505/256-0260
g.bronitsky@att.net