Luci Tapahonso

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Luci Tapahonso
Tapahonso at Diné College in 2011
Tapahonso at Diné College in 2011
BornNovember 8, 1953
Shiprock, New Mexico, USA
OccupationWriter, university lecturer
EducationB.A., English, U. of New Mexico
GenrePoetry
SubjectNative American Studies

Luci Tapahonso (born November 8, 1953)

Native American Studies. She is the first poet laureate of the Navajo Nation, succeeded by Laura Tohe.[3][4]

Early life and education

Tapahonso was born on the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico to Eugene Tapahonso Sr. and Lucille Deschenne Tapahonso. English was not spoken on the family farm, and Tapahonso learned it as a second tongue after her native Navajo.[5] Following schooling at Navajo Methodist School in Farmington, New Mexico,[6] she attended Shiprock High School and graduated in 1971. She embarked on a career as a journalist and investigative reporter before beginning her studies at the University of New Mexico in 1976.[5] There she first met the novelist and poet Leslie Marmon Silko, who was a faculty member and who proved to be an important influence on Tapahonso's early writing. She initially intended to study journalism at New Mexico, but Silko convinced her to change her major to creative writing. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1980.[7] In 1983, Tapahonso gained her MA in Creative Writing,[8] and she proceeded to teach, first at New Mexico and later at the University of Kansas, the University of Arizona, and the University of New Mexico.[6][7]

Writings

Silko helped Tapahonso publish her first story, "The Snake Man", in 1978.

activist literature, and writing in magazines.[7]

Her 1993 collection Saánii Dahataal (the women are singing), written in Navajo and English, was the first to receive international recognition, a reputation then cemented by blue horses rush in a book of poetry and memoirs published in 1997.[7]

In 2008 Tapahonso published A Radiant Curve, which won the Arizona Book Award for Poetry in 2009.[9]

Tapahonso's writing, unlike many

Native American writers, is a translation from original work she has created in her tribe's native tongue. Her Navajo work includes original songs and chants designed for performance. For this reason, her English work is strongly rhythmic and uses syntactical structures unusual in English language poetry.[5]

Awards

See also

References

  1. The Literary Encyclopedia
    . Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Tapahonso, Luci 1953-". lccn.loc.gov. Library of Congress. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  3. ^
    Indian Country Today Media Network. 30 April 2013. Archived from the original
    on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  4. ^ White, Kaila (25 September 2015). "ASU professor Laura Tohe named Navajo Nation's second poet laureate". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-0816066940
    .
  6. ^ a b Smith, Noel Lyn (17 October 2011). "Celebrated Diné poet visits with St. Michael students". Navajo Times. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0826323378
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0816056569
    .
  9. ^ a b c "Luci Tapahonso". Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. ISBN 0874042062
    .

External links

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