Anna Lee Walters facts for kids

Anna Lee Walters (born September 9, 1946) is a Pawnee/Otoe–Missouria author.

Life and career

Walters was born on September 9, 1946, in Pawnee, Oklahoma, to parents Juanita and Luther McGlaslin. Her mother is Pawnee and her father is Otoe-Missouria. Walters obtained her BA from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT, where she also obtained her MFA in Creative Writing. Anna is an instructor in the Humanities Division at Diné College in Arizona where she has experience as an administrator and teacher, and as a publisher of educational and trade publications with Navajo Community College Press. She lives in Tsaile, Arizona with her husband Harry Walters. He is the former Director of the Museum at Diné College.

Walters' first novel, Ghost Singer (1988) was published just two years before the passing of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and one year before the National Museum of the American Indian Act. This is important to note because the novel centers around a collection of Native American remains and artifacts housed in the Smithsonian and the subsequent effects the collection has on both native and non-native characters. The novel also explores how American Indians understand their position related to their ancestry and culture, especially in relation to the diaspora created by colonization.

Her short story collection, The Sun Is Not Merciful, won the Before Columbus Foundation 1985 American Book Award and the Virginia McCormick Scully Award.

See also

• List of Native American writers