GRANVILLE -- A convocation titled "How We Became Human" featuring author, poet, and musician Joy Harjo will serve as another installment in Denison University's Laura C. Harris Symposium on Native American Culture:Identity, Gender & Politics. Sponsored by the Provost's Office and the departments of dance, black studies, education, art, and women's studies, the convocation will take place at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday (March 30) in Slayter Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public.

Harjo's poems explore some of the reasons Indians drink and why many are trapped in a vicious cycle of alcoholism. One of her goals is to resolve polarities to bring this world into balance. Harjo'sHow We Became Human: New and Selected Poemswon the 2003 Oklahoma Book Award for poetry. She co-edited an anthology of contemporary Native women's writing:Reinventing the Enemy's Language, Native Women's Writing of North America, and also is author of the award-winning children's bookThe Good Luck Cat.

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo learned most of her Indian identity from her great aunt and was an enrolled member of the Muskogee Tribe. She earned a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Iowa in 1978 and has taught at a number of higher institutions including the Institute of American Indian Arts, Arizona State University, University of Colorado and the University of New Mexico. She is currently teaching at UCLA.

Harjo was named the 2003-2004 Writer of the Year-Poetry and the 2003-2004 Storyteller of the Year by the Woodcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. She also has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas and the American Indian Distinguished Achievement in the Arts Award in 1990.

Aside from her writing talents, Harjo's recently released second CD of original songs,Native Joy for Real, is currently nominated for three Native American Music Awards. She also is the co-writer ofA Thousand Roads, a 40-minute narrative film that is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this year, and will be housed as the signature film at the National Museum of the American Indian in April 2005.

CALENDAR INFORMATION: Denison University, Granville -- Author, poet and musician Joy Harjo will give a convocation titled "How We Became Human," another installment in the Native American culture series; 4:30 p.m., Wednesday (March 30) in Slayter Auditorium. Free and open to the public. Call (740) 587-6297 to confirm information.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

Business Phone

(740) 587-8575