The 32nd annual writers retreat features a grant announcement

EAGLE BUTTE – The Oceti Sakowin Writers Society (OSWS) announced at their Thirty-Second Annual OSWS Tribal Writers Retreat that they have received a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to co-edit The Oceti Sakowin Reader, a new anthology celebrating the voices of Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota poets, playwrights, and storytellers.

This year, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (CRST) and the Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) hosted the 4-day gathering, September 24 through 27, in Eagle Butte providing Oceti Sakowin writers with space to discuss and write about Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota cultures, languages, literatures, histories, politics and sovereignty. The CRYP graciously provided meals to Society members.

Every summer the retreat features different guest mentors to teach tribal culture-based writing. Lanniko L. Lee (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), who has been with the Society since the first retreat and is a proxy board member, explained that mentors share and guide participants through group exercises, they read individual members works-in-progress, and offer valuable constructive criticism. “The Society’s focus is to support members in their journey as writers, help them learn how to embrace courage while openly exploring cultural significance, and to hone their literary voice.”

When it began in 1993, the member organization was named after the Oak Lake Field Station (Oak Lake Writers’ Society) where the retreat was held every year until the COVID-19 pandemic. To protect the health of elders and community members, the retreat was held virtually in 2020. The virtual format allowed writers from a wider geographic range to participate, making the retreat more accessible.

The Society began undergoing significant changes in 2019, pursuing non-profit status, and later changing its name in 2022 to build upon the work of its co-founders, Dakota writer and scholar Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, and SDSU Professors Lowell Amiotte and Charles Woodard.

Board member Dr. Sarah Hernandez (Sicangu Lakota) highlighted that while members typically contribute and raise funds, the Society is currently in a robust and thriving state.

“It’s really been through the generosity of organizations such as the Henry Luce Foundation, Illuminative, First Nations Development Institute, Native Youth and Culture Fund, South Dakota Humanities Council and a number of personal donations as well that has enabled the Society to grow. We sincerely appreciate our donors generosity and belief in our mission to support Dakota, Lakota, Nakota writers and storytellers.”

She thanked Chokecherry Consulting, a Native owned and led consulting firm based in Denver, for organizing the retreat for the second year and said the Society would continue to collaborate with the consulting firm. “I can’t say enough about how much Chokecherry have helped us grow and professionalize the organization.”

Board members reported that there were at least ten new members who were present at the retreat.

The retreat is the cornerstone event of the Society and features working and writing sessions led by Oceti Sakowin authors. Members receive guidance, get feedback on manuscripts, and constructive criticism on drafts. The retreat has been foundational to the publication of numerous books, poems, short stories, and essays by its members. Many members have gone on to publish significant works.

One of those prominent and contributing Society members was Joseph Marshall III, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Marshall had served as the keynote speaker at the virtual retreat in 2020. On the third day of this year’s retreat, Society members, community members, and students gathered to honor Marshall, who began his Journey home in the spring of this year after a long illness. Marshall had served frequently as a mentor, leading workshops and providing one-on-one sessions for the Society’s writers on topics such as “Decolonizing Our Stories.” Society Vice President Patty Bordeaux Nelson (Rosebud Sioux) represented the Marshall family.

On the last day of the retreat, the Society presented an Autobiography Panel of Oceti Sakowin authors: John Beheler (Yankton Sioux) and Richard Moves Camp (Oglala Lakota).

Beheler shared his healing journey, “Dakota Starry Night,” which he published last year. The book details how he became an educator, an artist, and chose the path of traditional ceremonies to heal from the trauma of boarding school abuse.

Richard Moves Camp is a fifth-generation Lakota healer and tribal historian. His book “My Grandfather’s Alter” published last year is an oral-literary narrative account of five generations of Lakota religious tradition.

Moves Camp explained it has taken him twelve years to write the book. He first had to translate a diary and stories left to him by his grandfather which were written in Dakota. “It was a diary about his grandfather and his great-grandfather,” said Moves Camp.” The book comes in four parts. The first one is from my grandfather’s altar. It was all about his spiritual well-being about his connections and the truth behind our culture and our ceremony.” He said he wrote it mainly for his grandchildren.

A comfortable and engaging storyteller, Moves Camp shared some poignant personal stories and humorous tales. “Thank you for your organization. The Society is very well honored in my world that you are here as a group of storytellers.” He said it’s important for children to read. “We are now at a seventh generation where we can define what education is from our perspective. For a long time it was defined for us, and we had to participate in it. But now it’s a new generation where we can define what living as a human being is now. The boarding school experience is sad. But also because of the boarding school and the sacrifices that they made, today in the Indigenous community, we have people that have achieved a higher education. That’s where we are today and the younger generation will have a good future.”

Planning is already underway for next year’s retreat.

Next issue: more about the Society’s projects including the planned Oceti Sakowin Reader.

(Contact Marnie Cook at cookm8715@gmail.com)

The post The 32nd annual writers retreat features a grant announcement first appeared on Native Sun News Today.

Visit Original Source