EVENTS

Red Hen Press

Advisory Board Member

Ray A. YoungBear

Ray A. Young Bear, Meskwaki (People of the Red Earth), was born in 1950 in Marshalltown, IA and raised on the Meskwaki Tribal Settlement near Tama, IA, where he lives today with his wife, Stella and his nephew, Jesse. His great-great grandfather, Maminwanike, as a Sacred Chieftan or Okima, purchased the settlement land in 1856, on ancestral lands along the Iowa River. This was done after the federal government forced the tribe to remove to Kansas. This tribally-owned land is not a "reservation." Ray and Stella are co-founders of a cultural performance group, Black Eagle Child, that has toured the Midwest and The Netherlands. Ray often begins his readings with Meskwaki songs, accompanied by a hand drum and English translations.

Ray's first language is Meskwaki. He began seriously writing in English when in his early teens. He first wrote by thinking in Meskwaki and then translating into English. While he no longer does this, he still writes in the heightened, formal style of Meskwaki oratory. He does not write to reveal or to conceal, but to correct the errors of misrepresentation that have occurred over generations. Although his poetry was first published in 1968, he was introduced formally as a tribal contributor in the South Dakota Review American Indian II by John Milton. In addition, Robert Bly, a Minnesota poet, in the role of mentor recommended him to various literary magazines.

Ray attended Pomona College between 1969 and 1971. (In 1971 he met James Welch and Duane Niatum at a conference which had been organized by Milton at the University of South Dakota.) He has also attended the University of Iowa, Grinnell College, Northern Iowa University and Iowa State University. Ray has since taught creative writing and Native American literature at The Institute of American Indian Art (1984), Eastern Washington University (1987), Meskwaki Indian Elementary School (1988-89), the University of Iowa (1989) and at Iowa State University (1993 and 1998).

Ray's book covers show his wife, Stella's, elaborate bandolier-style beadwork. He uses the pronoun, we, in discussing his work. His poems are not written as an extension of his individual ego. They are collages of many voices, both interior and exterior. This polyvocality is an expression of his view of human insignificance in the universe, sharing the universe with all other beings.

Ray's writing has been published in journals such as the American Poetry Review, Gettysburg Review, The Georgia Review, The Kenyon Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Parnassus, Ploughshares, Solo, Virginia Quarterly Review and Witness.