Poetry. Native American Studies. nila northSun's poems are written with emotional honesty and biting elegance; they embrace her tribal identity and confront the challenges of being a contemporary American woman. Her poems are a confession of the extremes of her life: the highs of a first kiss--the lows of coming home to an empty house. They tell how it feels to hold a rebellious child, to wait too long for a too late lover and to miss a tomorrow that is already gone. They tell what it is to love at gunpoint. "nila northSun's new poems are funny and brutal. In short, direct lines, she tells the story of a life filled with pain, shame, agony, and glorious little moments of joy. She is one of my favorite poets"--Sherman Alexie.

Author City: FALLON, NV USA

nila northSun, of Shoshone-Chippewa descent, is the daughter of renowned Native American activist, Adam Fortunate Eagle--one of the more prominent figures in the 1969-1971 Indian takeover of Alcatraz. She is identified with the Native American Renaissance of the 1970s and 1980s; her poem "moving camp too far" remains a sentinel work of the period. northSun has published three volumes of poetry. She lives on the Stillwater Indian Reservation in Fallon, Nevada, where she works as a grant writer. Her poems bridge family history and traditional tribal identity with the challenges of being a contemporary American woman.