Honoring Authors: Joseph Bruchac |
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Back to the Honoring Authors main page Joseph BruchacJoseph Bruchac is a member of the Abenaki tribe of upstate New York. His heritage also includes Slovak and English ancestry. Bruchac grew up in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, raised by his maternal grandparents. As a child, he learned little of Abenaki culture. In that time and place, differences from the dominant white culture, especially native ancestry, were not often discussed. This experience created a great curiosity in Bruchac, leading him as a teenager and young adult to seek out other Native Americans and to learn about his Abenaki culture.Bruchac has a varied educational and work background. He received a B.A. from Cornell University, a M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Syracuse University, and a PhD. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute of Ohio. He has taught students at a school in Africa and prisoners in a maximum security prison. These experiences led Bruchac to start the Greenfield Review Press, a publishing house that publishes work by groups often marginalized by the mainstream publishers, such as American Indians and native writers from around the world, African writers, incarcerated writers, Asian American writers, and various other ethnic minorities. His impact as an editor reaches far and wide; Greenfield Review Press published Songs From This Earth on Turtle’s Back, an anthology of American Indian poetry that helped inspire Sherman Alexie to become a writer. As a poet and writer, Bruchac has authored over 70 books for children, teenagers, and adults. Many of his picture books for children are retellings of traditional tribal stories and legends. His novels visit different tribes and periods of history: Dawn Land explores Abenaki culture of 10,000 years ago, Sacajawea: The Story of Bird Woman and the Lewis and Clark Expedition tells the story from both Sacajawea’s and William Clark’s point of view, The Journal of Jesse Smoke follows a 16 year old on the Cherokee Trail of Tears, and Code Talker describes the role played by Navajo Marines in World War II. In addition to his writing contributions, Bruchac is a professional storyteller who performs at storytelling festivals and schools to share his traditions and culture. He also performs in the Dawnland Singers with his sister and two grown sons. Sources: www.josephbruchac.com "Joseph III Bruchac." Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, 2nd ed., 8 vols. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008.http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Links: http://www.josephbruchac.com/ http://www.ndakinnacenter.org/index.php Some of Joseph Bruchac's Works:   Back to the Honoring Authors main page
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