Photo: Inupiaq poet Joan Kane named as Guggenheim fellow

The celebrated Inupiaq poet, Joan Naviyuk Kane, has been named a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, its first Indigenous fellow in poetry since 1925, when the foundation began giving the fellowships to scholars and artists. Kane, who has published four acclaimed books of poetry, plans to work on a new collection inspired by a visit to her mother’s home village on King Island, Alaska. “My writing and life experience have been formed by my mother’s recollection of displacement and disruption of the traditional subsistence lifestyle our ancestors had maintained for generations,” says Kane, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska. “Iliġanamiik: to my family, friends, and community for your love, guidance, support, and never letting me give up.” Read about Kane and her work later on Nunatsiaq.com. (PHOTO COURTESY OF JOAN NAVIYUK KANE)