Gloria Bird (born 1951) is a Native American poet, essayist, teacher and a member of the

Spokane Tribe The Spokan or Spokane people are a Native American Plateau tribe who inhabit the eastern portion of present-day Washington state and parts of northern Idaho in the United States of America. The current Spokane Indian Reservation is located in ...

in Washington State. Gloria spreads her work not only by writing for her but all Native American people. In her work, Bird’s main priority is to question and diminish harmful stereotypes placed on Native American people. Her focus in on educating about her community in accurate scripts without exploiting the culture.

Early life

Bird was born in 1951 in Yakima Valley, Washington. Growing up, Bird was always in between two reservations, Spokane and Colville, attending American Indian boarding schools. Bird grew up with sisters, mothers, grandparents, and remembers from this time that her sister taught her "how to peel and eat sunflower stalks with a little bit of salt." While in high school, Bird attended 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 ...

in New Mexico. After high school, Bird attended

Portland Community College Portland Community College (PCC) is a public community college in Portland, Oregon. It is the largest post-secondary institution in the state and serves residents in the five-county area of Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Colu ...

, and went on to

Lewis and Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & C ...

in 1990 receiving her bachelors in English and receiving her masters in literature at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

in 1992.

Development as a Writer

Bird started writing at a young age on the reservation as she was in isolation, and writing her first few poems was a beginning for her. Bird wrote and got her first poetry book published
''Full Moon on the Reservation''
where she landed her first award as a writer in 1993, and in 1997 published her second book ''The River of History.'' Bird’s writing has appeared in many anthologies like ''Speaking for Generations, Reinventing the Enemy's Language'' and more (see Anthologies below).

Ongoing Themes

Bird’s writing describes her life on a reservation not only as a Native American but also a woman. Her work is very much motivated by her agenda to politically educate others about how Native Americans are being stereotyped by not only themselves but others too, and that these standardization can be very harmful to the Native population. Bird also wants to spread her poems in a theme of relations about gender, also writing with passion about the idea of Birth, Death and Rebirth.

Teaching

After graduating from the University of Arizona, Bird worked as a creative writing teacher at her former arts school in New Mexico for five years while being a co-editor for the ''

Wíčazo Ša Review The ''Wíčazo Ša Review'' ("Red Pencil" in Lakota) is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal of Native American studies. The journal was established in 1985 by editors-in-chief Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (Dakota Santee), Dr. Beatrice Medicine (Lak ...

''. While teaching, Bird led a "Subversive Literary Strategy" workshop at the Fishtrap Gathering in Joseph, Oregon. Bird is also a founding member of the Northwest Native Writers Association and today is a part time teacher at the

Salish Kootenai College Salish Kootenai College (SKC) is a private tribal land-grant community college in Pablo, Montana. It serves the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes. SKC's main campus is on the Flathead Reservation. There are three satellite ...

and is working for the Spokane tribe. Bird also works for the Wíčazo Ša Review as an associate editor.

Awards

* Diane Memorial Award for Poetry (1992). * Witter-Bynner Foundation Grant for Individual Writers (1993). * Oregon Institute of Literary Arts, Oregons Writers Grant (1988).

Poetry

*''The River of History'', Trask House Press. *''Full Moon on the Reservation'', Greenfield Review Press. *''Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writing of North America'',

Joy Harjo Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetr ...

and Gloria Bird (editors), W.W. Norton.

Anthologies

*''River of Memory: The Everlasting Columbia'', William D. Layman (editor), Washington Univ. Pr. *''Without Reservation: Indigenous Erotica'', Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (Editor), Kegedonce Press. *''Getting over the Color Green: Contemporary Environmental Literature of the Southwest'', Scott Slovic (Editor), Univ. AZ Press. *''First Fish, First People: Salmon Tales of the North Pacific'', Judith Roche and Meg McHutchison (Editors), University of Washington Press. *''Speaking for the Generations: Native Writers on Writing'' (Sun Tracks, Vol. 35), University of Arizona Press. *''Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writing of North America'', Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird (editors), W.W. Norton. *The Indian Summer issue of ''phati’tude Literary Magazine'' *''Dancing on the Rim of the World: An Anthology of Contemporary Northwest Native American Writing'' (Sun Tracks, Vol 19), Andrea Lerner (Editor), Univ of Arizona Press. *''Blue Dawn, Red Earth: New Native American Storytellers'', Clifford E. Trafzer (Editor), Anchor Books *''Writing the Circle: Native Women of Western Canada: An Anthology'', Jeanne Perreault, Sylvia Vance (Editor), Univ of Oklahoma Press. *''Returning the Gift: Poetry and Prose from the First North American Native Writers' Festival'' (Sun Tracks Books, No 29), University of Arizona Press. *''Talking Leaves: Contemporary Native American Short Stories'', Craig Lesley, Katheryn Stavrakis (Editor) Dell Books

Interviews and autobiographical essays

*''Here First'', Arnold Krupat (Editor), Brian Swann (Editor), Random House *''Speaking for the Generations: Native Writers on Writing'' (Sun Tracks, Vol. 35), University of Arizona Press.

References

Oregon Encyclopedia''Wicazo Sa Review''The Spokane Tribe
from the Wellpinet School System
A short biography
from the Internet Public Library's Native American Authors Project

External links

;Reviews

in ''The Raven Chronicles'' by Philip Red Eagle. ;Writings available online

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, Gloria Native American poets Living people American women poets Spokane people 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers Native American women writers 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native American writers 21st-century Native American women University of Arizona alumni Lewis & Clark College alumni Portland Community College alumni 1951 births 21st-century Native American writers