Poet to read works in honor of Native American Heritage Month

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Nationally acclaimed poet Susan Deer Cloud will read and talk about some of her works Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 4 p.m. in Student Union Room 2500.

A Métis poet and fiction writer of Blackfoot, Mohawk and Seneca heritage, Deer Cloud is the author of five books of poems, including Braiding Starlight (2010), The Last Ceremony (2007) and In the Moon When the Deer Lose Their Horns (1993).

She also edited two anthologies: I Was Indian (Before Being Indian Was Cool): An Anthology of Indigenous Poetry (2009) and Confluence (2006).

In addition, she has been published in several journals, including Rosebud, Prairie Schooner, Mid-American Review and in anthologies, including Sister Nations: Native American Women Writers on Community (Native Voices) (2002).

The writer has won national awards for her work. In 2007, she received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature, and last year she was the recipient of the New York State Foundation for the Arts Poetry Fellowship.

She grew up in the Catskills in New York and is what mountain people call “part Indian.” She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in creative writing from Binghamton University in New York.

For many years, she lived in Binghamton, where she taught creative writing at her alma mater.

The free, public event is part of UT’s celebration of Native American Heritage Month and is co-sponsored by the President’s Lecture Series, the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, and the Office of Multicultural Student Success.