From Powells.com
A selection of pivotal works by Indigenous authors.
Synopses & Reviews
In support of tribal efforts to protect the Bears Ears, Native writers bear testimony to the fragile and essential nature of this sacred landscape in America's remote red rock country. Through poem and essay, these often-ignored voices explore the ways many native people derive tradition, sustenance, and cultural history from the Bears Ears.
"To us, these places represent more than grass, hills, mountains, and trees...they hold the links to our past and our future." Martie Simmons, Ho-Chunk
The fifteen contributors are multi-generational writers, poets, activists, teachers, students, and public officials, each with a strong tie to landscape and a particular story to tell. Willie Grayeyes, Chairman of Utah Dine Bikeyah, shares his ancestral ties to the Bears Ears. Klee Benally, Dine activsit, musician, and filmmaker, asks, "What part of sacred don't you understand?" Morning Star Gali, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer at Pit River Tribe, speaks to the fight for cultural preservation. The fifteen contributors speak for the Bears Ears and elevate the conversation around tribal sovereignty and sacred places across the U.S.
Review
"This anthology seeks to tell stories by native writers about the Bears Ears and its importance. Storytelling is a way of making sure the importance of the land is known, and can help spread awareness...a worthy project." The Seattle Review of Books
Review
"This beautiful collection presents Native American expressions in poems, essays, reflections and interviews. While all the pieces focus on Bears Ears, it's their illumination of Native Americans' kinship to land that make these texts such an important read...The native voices of this collection offer their timely wisdom with a grace and power that offers peace to our planet and to ourselves." The Desert News
Review
"An important new collection of Native American writers essaying the cultural significance of Utah's Bears Ears landscape." The Salt Lake Tribune
Review
"Encompassing wisdom and grace, Edge of Morning is a finessed articulation of respect and the simplicity of being human." Foreward Reviews
Video
About the Author
Jacqueline Keeler, editor of Edge of Morning, is a Navajo/Dakota writer who lives in Portland, Oregon. She is co-founder of Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry, which seeks to end the use of racial groups as mascots, as well as the use of other stereotypical representations in popular culture. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Indian Country Today, Earth Island Journal, Salon.com, and elsewhere.
Jacqueline Keeler on PowellsBooks.Blog
On December 28, 2016, just weeks before he left office, President Obama signed the proclamation creating the Bears Ears National Monument. The creation of this 1.5 million-acre monument in the southeastern corner of Utah represented the culmination of years of work by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition...
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