Sherwin Bitsui is a Navajo writer and poet. His book, ''Flood Song'', won the

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

and the

PEN Open Book Award PEN/Open Book (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is a program intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the publishing i ...

Life and Education

Bitsui was born in 1974. He is originally from

Whitecone, Arizona Whitecone ( nv, Baaʼoogeedí) is a census-designated place in Navajo County, in the U.S. state of Arizona. The population was 817 at the 2010 census. Demographics As of the census of 2010, there were 817 people, 225 households, and 184 famili ...

. He is

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

; his mother was (Bitter Water Clan), while his father was (Many Goats Clan). He holds an AFA from the

Institute of American Indian Arts The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic S ...

Creative Writing Program. He is the recipient of the 2000-01 Individual Poet Grant from the

Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry Witter may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Witter (surname) * Witter Bynner (1881–1968), American poet and translator Places * Witter, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Witter, California, alternate name of Witter Springs, California * Witter ...

, the 1999 Truman Capote Creative Writing Fellowship, a Soul Mountain Residency, a

Lannan Foundation The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...

Literary Residency Fellowship and a 2006

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard E ...

. In 2012, he was honored with a
NACF Artist Fellowship in Literature
He has served in visiting faculty positions, including distinguished visiting
Visiting Hugo Writer University of Montana
an

where he has been on creative writing facult

Since 2013, he has served on the faculty of the Institute of American Indian Arts in the Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing program. He currently lives in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Published works

Sherwin has published poems in ''American Poet'', ''The Iowa Review'', ''Frank'' (Paris), ''Lit Magazine'', and elsewhere. His poems were also anthologized in
Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century
' and

'. A common theme within Bitsui's poems is the exploration of different values, concepts and ideas become when experienced in

as opposed to English. His book, ''Flood Song'', was published in 2009 and won an American Book Award in 2010. His most recent book of poetry, ''Dissolve'', was published in 2018. Poetry * ''Dissolve'', Copper Canyon Press. 2018. * *

References

External links

Profile at The Whiting Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bitsui, Sherwin 1975 births Living people 21st-century American poets American Book Award winners Institute of American Indian Arts alumni Native American poets Native American painters Navajo people People from Fort Defiance, Arizona People from Holbrook, Arizona 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native Americans