Blue Dawn, Red Earth New Native American Storytellers

In recent decades, Native American literature has experienced a resurgence in prominence and popularity. Beginning with the 1969 publication of N. Scott Momaday's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn, and continuing with the work of Paula Gunn Allen, Linda Hogan, Louise Erdrich, and Craig Lesley, American Indian writers have become an increasingly visible part of the literary landscape. In this collection of thirty varied and powerful short stories, almost all being published here for the first time, emerging talents carry on the tradition of their storytelling ancestors.
Incorporating traditional oral tales into modern narratives, these writers represent a wide range of tribes and cultural backgrounds, and demonstrate the vibrancy and diversity of Native American writing today. From Craig Womack's tale of witches to the spirits swirling through Lorne Simon's "Names" to Gerald Vizenor's tribal trickster - the characters in these stories are as enduring as those that have been passed down in legend.

Clifford E. Trafzer is director of Native American Studies and the Costo Native American Research Center at the University of California, Riverside, where he is also professor of history and ethnic studies. He is the author and editor of nineteen books on the history, lives and experiences of Native American peoples, including Earth Song, Sky Spirit. Trafzer is vice-chair of the California Native American Heritage Commission, an agency that protects sacred sites and American Indian burial grounds. He live in Yucaipa, California.