American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)

Denise Low

In the last few years, working in American Indian Studies, I've met many Native men and women at tribal colleges, research universities, Ivy League schools... Some work with literature, writing it and/or studying it. I've noted some of that work in previous posts (see, for example, my posts about LeAnne Howe). Robert Warrior (Osage) was visiting here at UIUC this week. Last week I blogged about ALCATRAZ IS NOT AN ISLAND, a documentary in which he figured prominently. His book,co-edited with Paul Chaat Smith, about American Indian activism is excellent. It is called Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. I highly recommend it as an addition to high school classes studying Civil Rights and Activism.

I have yet to meet Denise Low, but hope to do so soon. She is part Lenape (commonly known as Delaware) and Cherokee, and is a professor at Haskell Indian Nations University. She's also 2007 Poet Laureate of Kansas. You can read some of her poems on the Kansas Poets website.

On that page, I especially like "Kene: Bald Eagle."

Read her essay "The Cancer of Sprawl" on the Counterpunch website, visit her blog, and use her poems with junior/senior students in high school lit classes. They are beautiful and powerful. An interview with Denise, and list of her work is here.