Hawe,

There is one day remaining to submit your Indigenous language poetry or songs to Words of the People, in order to be considered for a featured artist spot at our upcoming open mic night this April at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Those who submit by tomorrow, January 6 at 6 p.m., will receive a chance to win two tickets to see Joyce Carol Oates speak at the Woody Guthrie Center on Feb. 17, 2024. In order to submit Indigenous language poems, write to wtpgathering@gmail.com with the subject line “Woody Guthrie Open Mic,” and attach your poems and/or songs.

An Important Update on AWP 2024

Words of the People has an update to our reading this February at AWP in Kansas City, Missouri. Yesterday evening, it came to our attention that In-Na-Po has scheduled an event at the same time as the Indigenous language reading we announced. Words of the People would like to partner with In-Na-Po, by sharing awareness of their events, and we do not want to schedule any event conflicts with their programming at AWP 2024.

In a spirit of solidarity, we have rescheduled our event to be on 2/10/24, and invite you to attend both In-Na-Po events and the Words of the People Reading at AWP 2024.

Please see our updated, rescheduled event info below:

Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024 at AWP in Kansas City

5:30-7:00 p.m. Reading at Bliss Books and Wine, 3502 Gillham Road, Kansas City, MO.

Words of the People presents Indigenous writers who will share work written in their Indigenous languages, with translations. This event is free and open to the public.

Participating authors’ books will be available at the event to be signed, but must be pre-ordered in advance, as of now. A link for pre-orders will be provided in a future email.

Please see the info for In-Na-Po’s events at AWP 2024 as well:

Thursday, Feb. 7, 2024 at AWP in Kansas City

5:30-7:30 p.m. Panel at Kansas City Public Library: Central Library, Kirk Hall, 14 W. 10th St., Kansas City, MO.

Elise Paschen, Heid Erdrich, Jake Skeets and Kimberly Blaeser present a panel entitled “Poetry as Reciprocity: Indigenous Nations Poets Celebrate Language Back.”

Friday, Feb. 9, 2024

10:35 a.m.-11:50 a.m. Reading & Conversation at Kansas City Convention Center, 301 W. 13th St., Ballroom A Level 2, Kansas City, MO.

Poet contributors to The Diné Reader Jake Skeets, Luci Tapahanso, and Esther Belin present a reading and conversation as part of the 2024 AWP conference.

12:10-1:25 p.m. Panel on Ekphrasis & Indigenous Poetics, Kansas City Convention Center, 301 W. 13th St., Room 2102A, Kansas City, MO.

Haley Kirkwood, Annie Wenstrup, Melanie Merle, Elise Paschen and Tacey M. Atsitty discuss the space created between images and sound/text in ekphrastic poetry, which is poetry that pairs an image or photograph with words.

1:45-3:00 p.m. Panel on Relationship with Water, Kansas City Convention Center, 301 W. 13th St., Room 2103A, Kansas City, MO.

Annie Wenstrup, Kimberly Blaeser, Kalehua Kim, Aimee Inglis and Cassandra Lopez discuss the Indigenous practice of praying, speaking and listening to (or otherwise collaborating reciprocally with) water to write as a form of land protection and activism.

7-8:45 p.m. In-Na-Po Reading in the Truman Forum Auditorium, Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, 4801 Main Street, Kansas City, MO.

A poetry reading presented by an organization comprised of poets of Indigenous Nations called IN-NA-PO (Indigenous Nations Poets).

Thali^,

Words of the People