Elizabeth Woody (Navajo/Warm Springs/Wasco/Yakama) has published poetry,
short fiction, essays, and is a visual artist. Her first collection of poetry, “Hand Into
Stone” received a 1990 American Book Award. Her second and third collections
were published in 1994, “Luminaries of the Humble,” by the Univ. of Arizona Press,
and “Seven Hands, Seven Hearts, Prose and Poetry” by The Eighth Mountain Press.
Ms. Woody is a recipient of the William Stafford Memorial Award for Poetry from the
Pacific Northwest Bookseller’s Association in 1995, a recipient of the J.T. Stewart
Fellowship; a finalist in the poetry category for the Oregon Book Awards for 1994,
and is an alumna of the first AIO/Kellogg Foundation’s Ambassadors program. Ms.
Woody teaches writing workshops, and speaks throughout the country. She was a
professor of creative writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM
Linda Boyden, of mixed-blood Cherokee, Irish, and French Canadian heritage, has
spent most of her adult life leading children to literacy. From 1970-1997, she taught
in primary grades, receiving her master’s in Gifted and Talented Education in 1992
from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. In 1997 Linda decided to change
careers and abandoned full-time teaching for full-time writing. Her first picture book,
“The Blue Roses,” debuted in 2002. It was the recipient of Lee and Low Books’ first
New Voices Award, the 2003 Paterson Prize, Wordcraft Circle of Native American
Writers and Storytellers’ Book of the Year, Children’s Literature, 2002-2003, and
was included on the prestigious CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center) 2003
Choices list of recommended titles. Her “Grammy Linda” preschool storytelling DVD
was released in 2006. In fall of ‘07 she wrote and illustrated her second picture
book, “Powwow’s Coming” which was published by the University of New Mexico
Press. Linda is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
and Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers. She enjoys doing
author visits and storytelling at schools and libraries across the country. Visit www.
lindaboyden.com.
Carol Craig is a Yakama Nation tribal member. She is also Puyallup, Muckleshoot,
Nisqually, Squaxin, Snohomish, Snoqualmie and Stillaquamish. Carol was honored
as a 2007 Buffett Award finalist for her work educating the public about tribal treaty
rights, salmon recovery and environmental protection. As part of her public
education efforts over the past twenty years, Carol has addressed civic
organizations, government employees and Pacific Northwest students from
kindergarten through college. Carol was the Public Information Manager for the
Yakama Nation Fish and Wildlife in Toppenish, Washington 1995-2007. She wrote,
edited, and took photographs for their publication Sin-Wit-Ki. She was script
consultant for the award-winning 2003 documentary, Sacred Salmon– A Gift to
Sustain Life. In 2006, Carol was an inaugural speaker for the Conversations in
Indian Country series at Willamette University, Salem, Oreg. Her photo essay
appeared in Oregon Historical Quarterly special issue commemorating the 50th
anniversary of the flooding of Celilo Falls. She serves on the board of the Salmon
Corps and on the KYNR Radio Advisory Board. In 1998, the Yakama Tribal Council
requested that Craig provide media assistance to the Makah Nation after they
announced they would revive their whale hunting tradition. She worked for the
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission as the Tribal Information and Education
Coordinator 1986-1994. She wrote for Wana-Chinook Tymoo and edited an award
winning newsletter. In 1993 Carol received the Howard Simon Fellowship Award from
the Society of Environmental Journalists. Her numerous awards include the CRITFC
2003 Spirit of Salmon Award for Education and a 2006 Enduring Spirit Award from
the Native Action Network. She is a member of the Native American Journalists
Association, Washington State Association of Press Women and the National
Federation of Press Women. Craig received her B.S. from Portland State University
in 1994. She raised two children as a single parent and has three grandchildren.
Ed Edmo, Shoshone-Bannock, is a published short story writer, poet and playwright,
and lecturer on Northwest tribal culture. His published works include "Walking on
Water," HEADWATERS, Blue Heron Press, 1994; "After Celilo," TALKING LEAVES,
Dell Publishers, New York, N.Y., 1991; "Parallel Lives Along N'Che Wana," co-written
with Lani Roberts, RACIALIZED ETHNIC MINORITIES IN OREGON, University Press,
2007. Ed's manuscript, “Notebooks from the River: A Word Journey,” has been
turned into the Oregon State University Press. He conducts writing workshops on
Indian Reservations, does his one-man theater pieces and is a teller of legends. Ed
serves as a consultant to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. He
conducts workshops, gives traditional storytelling performances, and dramatic
monologues. As well, he lectures on such issues as cultural understanding and
awareness, drug and alcohol abuse, and mental health. He guides visitors to the
She Who Watches petroglyph in the Columbia Gorge, and to the Warm Springs
Indian Reservation in central Oregon's high desert country. Ed lives in Portland,
Oregon, with his wife Carol, his son John, and his daughter, Se-ah-dum and her
daughter. Visit Ed at http://ededmo.tripod.com.
Gary Farmer (Cayuga Nation) is well known as an actor, director, and producer with
more than 20 years appearing on stage and screen, and over 65 film or television
credits. He has appeared in more than a dozen feature films in Canada and the
United States. Farmer won the Filmmakers Award at the U.S. Film Festival and a
Best Actor award at the American Indian Film Festival. A stage veteran, his 1989
portrayal of Zachary Jeremiah Keechigeesik in Tomson Highway's Dry Lips Oughta
Move to Kapuskasing earned him a nomination as Best Actor for a Dora Mavor
Moore award. Also a journalist, producer and director in radio and television, Gary
Farmer is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the award-winning AboriginalVOICES,
The Magazine of Evolving Native American Arts & Culture. He is a board member
with the Ontario Arts Council. He is a leader in cultural development, with the
establishment of Aboriginal Voices Magazine; as the Executive Producer of Buffalo
Tracks on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and the licensing of the
Aboriginal Voices Radio network across Canada or the Internet. Gary is a visual arts
collector and a performing arts impresario. Gary fronts his band, Gary Farmer and
the Troublemakers (See our "Musical Guests").
Roger Fernandes is a Lower Elwha S'Klallam artist and storyteller. He describes
himself as an urban Indian as his mother, Violet Charles, moved to Seattle where he
was born in 1951. He is from a family of four brothers who are all active doing
various cultural activities such as singing, basket making, artwork and storytelling.
Roger first began storytelling with simple legends. Through his own interest and
doors being opened by understanding those stories he moved into telling myths,
creation stories, flood stories, and hero stories. In sharing these types of stories
Native people can teach non-Natives about the aspects of their culture that go
beyond food, shelter, and clothing. These stories actually define the culture of the
tellers. In the course of learning Native American stories, Roger has integrated
stories he has learned from other cultures around the world like Mexico, Africa and
Asia. All stories speak the same human language and teach same lessons. Also a
tribal historian, Roger gives a comprehensive multimedia presentation on the art of
the Coast Salish people, including slides showing that the art of the Salish people.
Other topics Roger uses is the environment and health and healing. He believes art,
music and stories reflect the culture and the culture reflects the environment.
Spiritual health that people need is told in stories that convey how a human being is
to live in balance with family, community, and nature. Stories lead to a spiritual and
emotional understanding on how to live in the world. As an artist, his work focuses
on the culture and arts of the Coast Salish tribes of western Washington. He studied
art at the University of Washington and has a degree in Native American Studies
from the Evergreen State College. In the late 1970’s he found a small book entitled
“American Indian Sculpture” and in it found images of Puget Salish spirit figures and
other carvings. None of the art in this book resembled the more familiar and popular
formline art of the northern coastal tribes. This discovery and understanding led him
to study and copy old Salish designs and to learn more about the traditional cultures
that used this art. In the years since he has produced a variety of Salish art
including paintings, prints, and graphic designs used in posters, cards, and books.
He has also designed and worked on petroglyphic art and cedar carving projects. In
addition he has taught Coast Salish design courses through the Evergreen State
College and Northwest Indian College.
Jodi Peterson is associate editor of High Country News, a nonprofit biweekly
newsmagazine covering environment, natural resources, and communities in the 11
Western states.
short fiction, essays, and is a visual artist. Her first collection of poetry, “Hand Into
Stone” received a 1990 American Book Award. Her second and third collections
were published in 1994, “Luminaries of the Humble,” by the Univ. of Arizona Press,
and “Seven Hands, Seven Hearts, Prose and Poetry” by The Eighth Mountain Press.
Ms. Woody is a recipient of the William Stafford Memorial Award for Poetry from the
Pacific Northwest Bookseller’s Association in 1995, a recipient of the J.T. Stewart
Fellowship; a finalist in the poetry category for the Oregon Book Awards for 1994,
and is an alumna of the first AIO/Kellogg Foundation’s Ambassadors program. Ms.
Woody teaches writing workshops, and speaks throughout the country. She was a
professor of creative writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM
Linda Boyden, of mixed-blood Cherokee, Irish, and French Canadian heritage, has
spent most of her adult life leading children to literacy. From 1970-1997, she taught
in primary grades, receiving her master’s in Gifted and Talented Education in 1992
from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. In 1997 Linda decided to change
careers and abandoned full-time teaching for full-time writing. Her first picture book,
“The Blue Roses,” debuted in 2002. It was the recipient of Lee and Low Books’ first
New Voices Award, the 2003 Paterson Prize, Wordcraft Circle of Native American
Writers and Storytellers’ Book of the Year, Children’s Literature, 2002-2003, and
was included on the prestigious CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center) 2003
Choices list of recommended titles. Her “Grammy Linda” preschool storytelling DVD
was released in 2006. In fall of ‘07 she wrote and illustrated her second picture
book, “Powwow’s Coming” which was published by the University of New Mexico
Press. Linda is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
and Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers. She enjoys doing
author visits and storytelling at schools and libraries across the country. Visit www.
lindaboyden.com.
Carol Craig is a Yakama Nation tribal member. She is also Puyallup, Muckleshoot,
Nisqually, Squaxin, Snohomish, Snoqualmie and Stillaquamish. Carol was honored
as a 2007 Buffett Award finalist for her work educating the public about tribal treaty
rights, salmon recovery and environmental protection. As part of her public
education efforts over the past twenty years, Carol has addressed civic
organizations, government employees and Pacific Northwest students from
kindergarten through college. Carol was the Public Information Manager for the
Yakama Nation Fish and Wildlife in Toppenish, Washington 1995-2007. She wrote,
edited, and took photographs for their publication Sin-Wit-Ki. She was script
consultant for the award-winning 2003 documentary, Sacred Salmon– A Gift to
Sustain Life. In 2006, Carol was an inaugural speaker for the Conversations in
Indian Country series at Willamette University, Salem, Oreg. Her photo essay
appeared in Oregon Historical Quarterly special issue commemorating the 50th
anniversary of the flooding of Celilo Falls. She serves on the board of the Salmon
Corps and on the KYNR Radio Advisory Board. In 1998, the Yakama Tribal Council
requested that Craig provide media assistance to the Makah Nation after they
announced they would revive their whale hunting tradition. She worked for the
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission as the Tribal Information and Education
Coordinator 1986-1994. She wrote for Wana-Chinook Tymoo and edited an award
winning newsletter. In 1993 Carol received the Howard Simon Fellowship Award from
the Society of Environmental Journalists. Her numerous awards include the CRITFC
2003 Spirit of Salmon Award for Education and a 2006 Enduring Spirit Award from
the Native Action Network. She is a member of the Native American Journalists
Association, Washington State Association of Press Women and the National
Federation of Press Women. Craig received her B.S. from Portland State University
in 1994. She raised two children as a single parent and has three grandchildren.
Ed Edmo, Shoshone-Bannock, is a published short story writer, poet and playwright,
and lecturer on Northwest tribal culture. His published works include "Walking on
Water," HEADWATERS, Blue Heron Press, 1994; "After Celilo," TALKING LEAVES,
Dell Publishers, New York, N.Y., 1991; "Parallel Lives Along N'Che Wana," co-written
with Lani Roberts, RACIALIZED ETHNIC MINORITIES IN OREGON, University Press,
2007. Ed's manuscript, “Notebooks from the River: A Word Journey,” has been
turned into the Oregon State University Press. He conducts writing workshops on
Indian Reservations, does his one-man theater pieces and is a teller of legends. Ed
serves as a consultant to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. He
conducts workshops, gives traditional storytelling performances, and dramatic
monologues. As well, he lectures on such issues as cultural understanding and
awareness, drug and alcohol abuse, and mental health. He guides visitors to the
She Who Watches petroglyph in the Columbia Gorge, and to the Warm Springs
Indian Reservation in central Oregon's high desert country. Ed lives in Portland,
Oregon, with his wife Carol, his son John, and his daughter, Se-ah-dum and her
daughter. Visit Ed at http://ededmo.tripod.com.
Gary Farmer (Cayuga Nation) is well known as an actor, director, and producer with
more than 20 years appearing on stage and screen, and over 65 film or television
credits. He has appeared in more than a dozen feature films in Canada and the
United States. Farmer won the Filmmakers Award at the U.S. Film Festival and a
Best Actor award at the American Indian Film Festival. A stage veteran, his 1989
portrayal of Zachary Jeremiah Keechigeesik in Tomson Highway's Dry Lips Oughta
Move to Kapuskasing earned him a nomination as Best Actor for a Dora Mavor
Moore award. Also a journalist, producer and director in radio and television, Gary
Farmer is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the award-winning AboriginalVOICES,
The Magazine of Evolving Native American Arts & Culture. He is a board member
with the Ontario Arts Council. He is a leader in cultural development, with the
establishment of Aboriginal Voices Magazine; as the Executive Producer of Buffalo
Tracks on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and the licensing of the
Aboriginal Voices Radio network across Canada or the Internet. Gary is a visual arts
collector and a performing arts impresario. Gary fronts his band, Gary Farmer and
the Troublemakers (See our "Musical Guests").
Roger Fernandes is a Lower Elwha S'Klallam artist and storyteller. He describes
himself as an urban Indian as his mother, Violet Charles, moved to Seattle where he
was born in 1951. He is from a family of four brothers who are all active doing
various cultural activities such as singing, basket making, artwork and storytelling.
Roger first began storytelling with simple legends. Through his own interest and
doors being opened by understanding those stories he moved into telling myths,
creation stories, flood stories, and hero stories. In sharing these types of stories
Native people can teach non-Natives about the aspects of their culture that go
beyond food, shelter, and clothing. These stories actually define the culture of the
tellers. In the course of learning Native American stories, Roger has integrated
stories he has learned from other cultures around the world like Mexico, Africa and
Asia. All stories speak the same human language and teach same lessons. Also a
tribal historian, Roger gives a comprehensive multimedia presentation on the art of
the Coast Salish people, including slides showing that the art of the Salish people.
Other topics Roger uses is the environment and health and healing. He believes art,
music and stories reflect the culture and the culture reflects the environment.
Spiritual health that people need is told in stories that convey how a human being is
to live in balance with family, community, and nature. Stories lead to a spiritual and
emotional understanding on how to live in the world. As an artist, his work focuses
on the culture and arts of the Coast Salish tribes of western Washington. He studied
art at the University of Washington and has a degree in Native American Studies
from the Evergreen State College. In the late 1970’s he found a small book entitled
“American Indian Sculpture” and in it found images of Puget Salish spirit figures and
other carvings. None of the art in this book resembled the more familiar and popular
formline art of the northern coastal tribes. This discovery and understanding led him
to study and copy old Salish designs and to learn more about the traditional cultures
that used this art. In the years since he has produced a variety of Salish art
including paintings, prints, and graphic designs used in posters, cards, and books.
He has also designed and worked on petroglyphic art and cedar carving projects. In
addition he has taught Coast Salish design courses through the Evergreen State
College and Northwest Indian College.
Jodi Peterson is associate editor of High Country News, a nonprofit biweekly
newsmagazine covering environment, natural resources, and communities in the 11
Western states.
| Invited Guests The Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers Conference 'A Pacific Northwest Gathering' |
Elizabeth Woody
Linda Boyden
Ed Edmo
Gary D. Farmer
Roger Fernandes
______________________________________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Carol Craig
1994-1996. She is on the Board of Soapstone, a Women Writer's Retreat; the EditorialAdvisory Board of the Oregon
Encyclopedia for the Oregon Council for the Humanities, Willamette Univ. Advisory Council for Native Programs in
Salem, Oregon. She served as a leadership circle advisor during the Ford Foundation's feasibility study on a national
Native American arts and cultures fund, Advisory Board for Lewis & Clark College Graduate School of Education and
Counseling Indigenous Ways of Knowing Project. She is secretary of the board for the National Native American Arts
and Cultures Fund. Appointed by resolution Ms. Woody served the steering committee for the Affiliated Tribes of
Northwest Indians proposed NW Indian Policy Center 2005-2006. She advises The Evergreen State College Native Arts
Council that holds a Native American Arts Fair at the Washington History Museum and disperses artist grants nationally.
As an artist, Ms. Woody exhibits regionally and nationally. She has served as a juror for the Oregon Folklife program for
three years, and has served on multi-disciplinary art fellowship jury panels for several arts organizations in the Pacific
NW and nationally. See: www.nativewiki.org/Elizabeth_Woody. In Chip Rawlin’s review of Luminaries of the Humble and
Seven Hands Seven Hearts, Prose and Poetry for “Bloomsbury Review” he says, “Seven Hands, Seven Hearts is not
only about building a durable self. There is also a profound anger in it, as Woody wrestles with the invasion of her
homeland: the changing of her known place into one possessed by strangers. Yet the emotion in these passages is
transparent, something like a flame. And like flame, it is the source of both pain and power.... In her third book,
Luminaries of the Humble, Elizabeth Woody cultivates a thrilling sense of recognition: the world is a multitude of bodies,
each as mysterious as one's own. That is, she allows the world to speak not just to her, but through her, in a voicethat
is rich and precise and strange. And as she illuminates the objects of her poems, she presents her reader with
realizations that are not merely written, but achieved - For the most part, the most part, the poems in these two books
are difficult only in a provocative way. She sets up a cascade of images, the known rushing over the unknown, with
irresistible momentum. Her difficulty resides not in the flow of her verse, but in her complex being and intention." "Her
poems are lik hands and hearts and also like lights: they grip and pulse and illuminate. Like the woman herself, the
work is grand and modest and forceful. It will shake you, and move you deeply...." The Bloomsbury Review. "Woody
follows in the tradition of peoples who have understood the power of language, and the place of a
poet/singer/storyteller at the center of the world."- Joy Harjo
Encyclopedia for the Oregon Council for the Humanities, Willamette Univ. Advisory Council for Native Programs in
Salem, Oregon. She served as a leadership circle advisor during the Ford Foundation's feasibility study on a national
Native American arts and cultures fund, Advisory Board for Lewis & Clark College Graduate School of Education and
Counseling Indigenous Ways of Knowing Project. She is secretary of the board for the National Native American Arts
and Cultures Fund. Appointed by resolution Ms. Woody served the steering committee for the Affiliated Tribes of
Northwest Indians proposed NW Indian Policy Center 2005-2006. She advises The Evergreen State College Native Arts
Council that holds a Native American Arts Fair at the Washington History Museum and disperses artist grants nationally.
As an artist, Ms. Woody exhibits regionally and nationally. She has served as a juror for the Oregon Folklife program for
three years, and has served on multi-disciplinary art fellowship jury panels for several arts organizations in the Pacific
NW and nationally. See: www.nativewiki.org/Elizabeth_Woody. In Chip Rawlin’s review of Luminaries of the Humble and
Seven Hands Seven Hearts, Prose and Poetry for “Bloomsbury Review” he says, “Seven Hands, Seven Hearts is not
only about building a durable self. There is also a profound anger in it, as Woody wrestles with the invasion of her
homeland: the changing of her known place into one possessed by strangers. Yet the emotion in these passages is
transparent, something like a flame. And like flame, it is the source of both pain and power.... In her third book,
Luminaries of the Humble, Elizabeth Woody cultivates a thrilling sense of recognition: the world is a multitude of bodies,
each as mysterious as one's own. That is, she allows the world to speak not just to her, but through her, in a voicethat
is rich and precise and strange. And as she illuminates the objects of her poems, she presents her reader with
realizations that are not merely written, but achieved - For the most part, the most part, the poems in these two books
are difficult only in a provocative way. She sets up a cascade of images, the known rushing over the unknown, with
irresistible momentum. Her difficulty resides not in the flow of her verse, but in her complex being and intention." "Her
poems are lik hands and hearts and also like lights: they grip and pulse and illuminate. Like the woman herself, the
work is grand and modest and forceful. It will shake you, and move you deeply...." The Bloomsbury Review. "Woody
follows in the tradition of peoples who have understood the power of language, and the place of a
poet/singer/storyteller at the center of the world."- Joy Harjo
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Jodi Peterson
