CULLOWHEE – Native American writers from the Southeast are invited to participate in the first-ever Southeast Indian Writers Gathering, to be held Thursday and Friday, Sept. 16 and 17, at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee.
The event is intended to bring together writers from the original Southeastern tribes to share and discuss their work, said Robert Conley, Sequoyah Distinguished Professor of Cherokee Studies at Western Carolina University.
Conley, an Oklahoma Cherokee and the author of more than 80 works of fiction and nonfiction, organized the event.
“I organized the Indian writers gathering because I feel like there is getting to be a bunch of us and we have a lot of interests in common. It seems like a good idea to get together,” said Conley, who recently was named the new president of the Western Writers of America, the first American Indian to hold that position.
Group discussions and one-on-one sessions for Native authors will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday. The workshop is free and registration is not required. The general public is invited to a free reading and book signing to be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at the museum.
Native authors scheduled to participate include Conley; Chris Teuton (Cherokee); Sean Teuton (Cherokee); Kim Roppolo (Cherokee, Choctaw and Creek); Geary Hobson (Cherokee, Quapaw and Chickasaw); Holly McClure (Cherokee); and Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee).
For more information about the writers gathering, contact Conley at 828-227-2306, 918-708-5476 or rconley@wcu.edu; or Barbara Duncan, education director of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian (at 589 Tsali Blvd. in Cherokee), at 828-497-3481, extension 306, or bduncan@cherokeemuseum.org.
Source: WCU release
