In 1969 pioneer N. Scott Momaday won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel _House Made of Dawn_. With his 1969 book, _The Way to Rainy Mountain_, about Kiowa history and traditions, he showed how a writer could bring an oral literary tradition to the printed page. The following decade continued the development of American Indian and Alaska Native literature. People wrote both in English and in their tribal languages. Fiction, poetry, songs, essays, and news articles form a body of work that reflects tribal tales and traditions, as well as issues of concern to the American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

On this edition of _What's the Word?_, three writers and teachers talk about how their tribal traditions influence their work. Ofelia Zepeda, winner of a 1999 MacArthur Fellowship, shares the poetry that she writes both in English and her tribal language, O'odham. Robert Warrior takes us back to the nineteenth century for a look at the written 1881 constitution of the Osage nation and the oral version of the nation's origins. And Jean Breinig reads and talks about writings from her tribe, the Haida, in Alaska.

Well-suited to American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month in November.

Photo: Ofelia Zepeda
Photo Credit: Tony Celentano

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In 1969 pioneer N. Scott Momaday won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel _House Made of Dawn_. With his 1969 book, _The Way to Rainy Mountain_, about Kiowa history and traditions, he showed how a writer could bring an oral literary tradition to the printed page. The following decade continued the development of American Indian and Alaska Native literature. People wrote both in English and in their tribal languages. Fiction, poetry, songs, essays, and news articles form a body of work that reflects tribal tales and traditions, as well as issues of concern to the American Indian and Alaska Native communities. On this edition of _...
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