Monday, December 14, 2015

Monday Muse: Poet Joan Naviyuk Kane

Recently, the PBS Newshour presented a poetry feature with Alaskan Native poet Joan Naviyuk Kane: "Why Native Poets, and Their Languages, Are So Often Misunderstood". The feature includes two readings of the same poem, "Compass", first in English and then in Kane's language Inupiaq. Listen here or at the article site.



The text of the poem in both languages and Kane's description of her writing practice are found in the article.

A profoundly lyrical poet of arresting images, Kane is the author of Hyperboreal (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pitt Poetry Series, 2013) and The Cormorant Hunter's Wife (NorthShore Press Alaska, 2009; reissue University of Alaska Press, 2012), her debut collection and winner of the Whiting Writer's Award. She also is the author of a chapbook, The Straits, available from Voices from the American Land.

Kane was awarded the 2014 American Book Award (Before Columbus Foundation) and the 2012 Donald Hall Prize in Poetry. In addition, among other honors, she is the recipient of a Native Arts and Culture Foundation Literature Fellowship, a Creative Vision Award from United States Artists, and a Rasmuson Foundation Artist Fellowship. 

Joan Naviyuk Website (Click on the black circles for menu.)



Melanie Wang, "A Poet's Return", Harvard Magazine, January-February 2015

New York Times ArtsBeat Blog Interview with Kane: "Poems Against Loss: Joan Naviyuk Kane Talks About 'Hyperboreal'" (November 14, 2013)

Profile of Kane at Voices from the American Land (The title poem from her chapbook is here.)


My thanks to PBS Newshour for the introduction to this extraordinary poet.

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