Writer-in-Residence to speak at U.N. headquarters in New York
Henric Nielsen
Issue date: 5/8/09 Section: College Life
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Kenny hoped his talk on the pros and cons in current Native American publishing will evoke interest not only among readers, but more so with publishers. He stated a desire to spark interest among publishers to publish more Native American works. Such a trend would bring attention to the development of Native American culture across the country, as it is currently largely ignored in mass media.
Himself being a critically acclaimed writer and part Mohawk, Kenny has a personal relation to the topic of the discussion. Except for extensively exploring his cultural heritage in his published works, such as Tekonwatoni: Molly Brant (1992), and Carving Hawk: New and Selected Poems (2002), Kenny has experience from the publishing industry relating to the U.N. discussion topic. In 1976, he established Strawberry Press to publish Native American Writers. He also worked in the 1970s as editor at Contact II Publications, with which he published the influential journal Contact II, and published many writers outside academe and minority writers. Famous writers published in Contact II include playwright Barbara Holland and feminist writers Rochelle Owens and Rochelle Ratner.
In 1984 Kenny won the coveted American Book Award for exquisite series of poems, titled The Mama Poems. The award is a testament to his abilities as a writer, and tops the long list of merits that justifies his guest speaker position as the United Nations. Other accomplishements include two nominations for the Pulitzer price. Of his own writings, Kenny said "I've always tried to make visible what's invisible." The statement especially applies to his writings on Native American culture. He has publicly spoken on the topic for years, and is proved knowledgeable on the topic through teaching upper level university courses on Native American culture and history. This semester, he teaches Iroquios Culture in Literature here at SUNY Potsdam.
Kenny argued that the prominence of Native American writing in the late 1960s and 1970s-subsequent to Scott N. Momaday winning the Pulitzer price in 1968-largely sprung from an active political climate and Native American cultural movement, but that the movement is not as strong today. A specific event that served as a catalytic agent in raising awareness of Native American concerns was the occupation of Alcatraz in 1972. The group Indians of All Tribes (IAT) occupied Alcatraz Island for nineteen months before a forcible ending by the government. Another event that sparked media attention was the Wounded Knee incident in 1973, when followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Later the same year Akwesasne Notes, a journal of the Akwesasne Reserve in Northern New York State, published a long poem Kenny wrote as a response to the Wounded Knee incident.
As there are no headlines about Native American issues in today's newspapers, and because the American Indian Movement has weakened, the interest in Native American writing has unfortunately diminished, Kenny argued. He hoped the talk at the United Nations in New York City will contribute to a new positive development and new rise in interest of Native American writing and culture.
Except for participating in the discussion, he has plans to write a book over the summer. Two out of three possible ideas would result in long narrative poems on historical figures. The third idea, however, is to write "My naughty memoirs of living in the Virgin Islands in the Carribbean. And they're naughty, very naughty," Kenny said with his characteristically mysterious Kenny-smile shining from cheek to cheek. He is currently also co-editing an anthology of essays named "Living the North" for North Country Books, scheduled to be published in 2010.
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