Anna Lee Walters

Anna Lee Walters, Pawnee/Otoe-Missouria, was born in Pawnee, Oklahoma. She obtained her BA from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT, where she also obtained her MFA in Creative Writing. She is married to Harry Walters, Navajo, who heads the Ned A. Hatathli Museum at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona. They have 2 sons. Anna is currently an Instructor in the Humanities Division at Diné College and an independent consultant on American Indian issues.

Anna has 10 years experience in administrative positions and 7 years experience as publisher of educational and trade publications with Navajo Community College Press. She has also accumulated much experience as editorial manager for book production, newsletters, and other publications and audio visual production and also worked in curriculum development.

Beyond all this experience, Anna has been writing for 37 years and teaching for 15 years. She has 29 years of experience as a lecturer and public speaker on Native American Literature, Writing, and other American Indian issues. Her work has been published in many anthologies, included in textbooks and in many periodicals. She has been the editor for 3 major research volumes published by Najajo Community College Press and is listed in the major international directories, such as Who's Who in the West, Who's Who of American Women and the International Women's Who's Who.

Anna has given readings of her work at colleges and museums all over the U. S. She has read at Gettysburg College, the Arizona State Museum, the University of California at Davis and the University of Arizona in Tucson, as well as at many other schools.

About her storytelling roots, Anna says, "These extend through ancestors, and their genealogies and indigenous languages. They are still green and vibrant and still connect us to the earth." She laughs and says that she has written much of her lifetime, though there seems to be not enough proof of it. Most recently she has created an indigenous website (http://www.womanearth.org/) in which she produces writing in two tribal languages online.

A short biography from the Internet Public Library's Native American Author's Project is available.

Awards

Recipient of two literary prizes (the Virginia McCormick Scully Award and the 1986 American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation) The Sun Is Not Merciful is Pawnee/ Otoe writer Anna Lee Walter's first collection of short fiction.

Writing available online

Poem 1
Poem 2
Poem 3
Poem 4
The Devil and Sister Lena

Books by Anna Lee Walters or containing her work

The Sacred: Ways of Knowledge. Sources of Life., (With Peggy V. Beck and Nia Francisco.): Tsaile Arizona: Navajo Community College Press
The Otoe-Missouria Tribe. Centennial Memoirs. 1881-1981, Red Rock, Oklahoma:: Otoe- Missouria Tribe, 1981.
The Sun Is Not Merciful, Firebrand Books.
Ghost Singer, Northland Publishing.
The Spirit of Native America: Beauty and Mysticism in American Indian Art, Chronicle Books.
Talking Indian: Reflections on Survival and Writing, Firebrand Books.
Neon Pow-Wow: New Native American Voices of the Southwest, as Editor, Northland Publishing.
The Two-Legged Creature. An Otoe Story Retold, Northland Publishing. [Children's book]
The Pawnee Nation, Bridgestone Books. [Children's book]

Anthologies & Journals

Indian Market Magazine, 1999 Collector's Edition.
Stories for a Winter's Night: Short Fiction by Native American Writers, Maurice Kenny (Editor), White Pine Press.
American Family Album: 28 Contemporary Ethnic Stories,: Bonnie Tusmith and Gerald Bergion (Editors), Harcourt College Pub.
Reinventing the Enemy's Language : Contemporary Native Women's Writing of North America: (Edited by Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird), W.W. Norton. (Hardcover)
Spider Woman's Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing: by Native American Women Paula Gunn Allen (Editor), Fawcett Books
Tapestries of Life : Women's Work, Women's Consciousness, and the Meaning of Daily Experience,: Bettina Aptheker (Editor), Univ. of Massachusetts Press.
Walking the Twilight II: Women Writers of the Southwest, Kathryn Wilder (Editor), Northland Pub.
Smoke Rising : The Native North American Literary Companion, Janet Witalec,: Visible Ink Press.
A Gathering of Spirit : A Collection by North American Indian Women: Beth Brant (Editor), Firebrand Books
Earth Power Coming : Short Fiction in Native American Literature: Ed. by Simon J. Ortiz, Navajo Community College Press
The Remembered Earth : An Anthology of Contemporary Native American Literature: by Geary Hobson (Editor), Univ of New Mexico Press
Talking Leaves : Contemporary Native American Short Stories: by Craig Lesley, Katheryn Stavrakis (Editor) Dell Books
Journal of Navajo, Spring 1994, Vol. XI, No. 3.
The Man to Send Rainclouds. Contemporary Stories by American Indians, Kenneth Rosen (Editor),: Viking Press.
Voices of the Rainbow : Contemporary Poetry by Native Americans: Kenneth Rosen (Editor), R.C. Gorman, Aaron Yava (Illustrator), Arcade Pub.
Gatherings, Survival, Vol. I , Greg Young-Ing (Editor), 1990, Penticton: Theytus Books
Journal of the Southwest, Vol. 32, No. 1, Spring 1990.
Christianity and Crisis, Vol. 48, No. 18, Dec 1988 and Vol. 49, No. 19, Jan 1990.
Akwekon, No. 5, April 1986.
Tarasque II, 1985.
North Dakota Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 3, Spring 1985.
Coyote was here : essays on contemporary Native American literary and political mobilization: Bo Scholer (Editor), 1984, Aarhus, Denmark : Seklos.
Frontiers: a Journal of Women's Studies, Vol. VII, No. 3, Fall 1981.
Book Forum, (American Indians Today, Their Thought, Their Literature, Their Art),: Vol. V, No. 3, 1981.
Scree, 11-12, Native American Issue, (Duck Down Press) 1979.
Frauenoffensive, Special Native American Issue, as Guest Editor,: No. 8, Oct. 1977 (German language).
The Indian Historian, Vol. 10, No. 4, Fall 1977.
Shantih, (DSpecial International Women's Issue), Fall/Winter, Vol. 3, No. 3, 1976.
The Third Woman : Minority Women Writers of the United States,: Dexter Fisher (Editor), Houghton Mifflin Co.
First Skin Around Me : contemporary American tribal poetry, James L. White (Editor),: Territorial Press.

Interviews with Anna Lee, Autobiographical Essays and Articles on her Work

Here First: Autobiographical Essays by Native American Writers: by Arnold Krupat (Editor), Brian Swann (Editor), Random House
Contemporary American Indian Literatures & the Oral Tradition,: Susan Berry Brill De Ramirez, 1999, University of Arizona Press. (Hardcover)
Native Heritage : Personal Accounts by American Indians, 1790 to the Present,: Arlene Hirschfelder (Editor), Macmillan General Reference.
Growing Up Native American, Patricia Riley (Editor) , Avon Books.
Wildfire, Volume 4 Number 3.
The American Indian Quarterly, Volume XVI, Number 1 (Winter)
Western American Literature, Vol. XXIX No. 4: 376.
Avante Garde (radio aired 1/8/90) WCVT 89.7, Towson, Towson State University (Boston)
Native America Calling. (Radio) Book of the Month Club: Anna Lee Walters 28 Aug. 95. Public Radio
Survival This Way : Interviews With American Indian Poets: Joseph Bruchac III (Editor), (Sun Tracks Books, No 15) University of Arizona Press

Work published in Textbooks and Other Publications

How We Live Now: Contemporary Multicultural Literature, John Repp (Editor), St. Martin's Press, 1993.
Language, Scott Foresman, 1989.
The Native Americans: An Illustrated History, David Hurst Thomas (Editor), Turner Publishing Inc. 1995.
Plains Native American Literature, Globe Book Co. 1992.
Teaching and Using Multicultural Literature in Grades 9-12: Moving Beyond the Canon,: Arlette Willis (Editor), Christopher-Gordon Pub. 1998.

Work published in Translation

Figlie Di Pocahontas: Racconti e poesie Delle Indiane d'America: Laura Coltelli, Dr. Cinzia Biagotti (Editors), Giunti Gruppo Editoriale, Publisher, Firenze, Italy.
Piste Perdute, Piste Ritrovate: Racconti Indiani, Franco Melli, Milano (Italy), 1996.

This is an "official" site in that this page was constructed with the assistance and active collaboration of the writer, Anna Lee Walters. The website "author" is Karen M. Strom

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