Mona Susan Power (born 1961) is an American author from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Her debut novel, ''

The Grass Dancer ''The Grass Dancer'' is the 1994 debut novel by Susan Power. Plot Prologue: Crowns of Glass – Harley dreams of his father and his brother often. He remembers the crash they died in before Harley was born. Henry Burger was drinking and angry ...

'' (1994), received the 1995 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for Best First Fiction.

Early life and education

Power was born in Chicago, Illinois, and is an enrolled member of the

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic " Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaks ...

. Her mother, Susan Kelly Power (Gathering of Stormclouds Woman, her Dakota name), is also an enrolled member. Her great-grandmother was Nellie Two Bear Gates. She is a descendant of Sioux Chief ''Mato Nupa'' (Two Bears).Susan Power: Biography and criticism of work
''Voices from the Gap'', University of Minnesota, accessed 24 July 2014 Her father, Carleton Gilmore Power, is of New England Euro-American descent and worked as a salesman in publishing. One of his great-great-grandfathers was governor of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. She heard stories that inspired her imagination from both sides. Power attended local schools, then earned her bachelor's degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and a JD from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

Change to writing

After a short career in law, Power decided to become a writer. She worked as a technical writer and editor, reserving her creative writing for off hours. In 1992 she entered the MFA program at the

Iowa Writer's Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...

.Caroline Moseley, "'Grass Dancer' evokes past, present"
''Princeton Weekly Bulletin,'' 10 March 1997, accessed 24 July 2014 Her 1994 debut novel, ''

'', has a complex plot about four generations of Native Americans, with action stretching from 1864 to 1986. The work received the 1995

Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award The PEN/Hemingway Award is awarded annually to a full-length novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Hemingway ...

for Best First Fiction. Power has written several other books as well. Her short fiction has been published in the ''

Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''

Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...

'', ''

Voice Literary Supplement The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

'', ''

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Boston. ...

'', '' Story'', and ''The Best American Short Stories 1993''. She teaches at

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline o ...

in St. Paul,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Power's most recent novel, '' A Council of Dolls'', was released in 2023. The novel is longlisted for the

National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...

Works

Books

*''

'', Putnam, 1994. *''Strong Heart Society'', Penguin, 1998. *''Roofwalker'', Milkweed Editions, 2002. *''Sacred Wilderness'', Michigan State University Press, 2014. *'' A Council of Dolls'', Mariner Books, 2023.

Short Stories

* Dead Owls in ''Never Whistle At Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology'' (September, 19th, 2023)

References

External links

Susan Power
Native American Writers Project
Susan Power: Biography and criticism of work
''Voices from the Gap'', University of Minnesota {{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Susan 1961 births Living people Native American women writers Harvard Law School alumni Standing Rock Sioux people Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Writers from Chicago Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award winners 21st-century American women 21st-century Native American women 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native Americans Harvard College alumni 21st-century Native American writers

Early life and education

Change to writing

Works

Books

Short Stories

References

Further reading

External links