Gloria Bird facts for kids

Gloria Bird, born in 1951, is a talented Native American writer and teacher. She is a proud member of the Spokane Tribe in Washington State. Gloria writes not just for herself, but for all Native American people. Her main goal is to challenge and correct wrong ideas about Native Americans. She wants to share true stories about her community without misrepresenting their culture.

Early Life and Education

Gloria Bird was born in 1951 in Yakima Valley, Washington. As a child, she lived between two reservations: Spokane and Colville. She attended American Indian boarding schools during her youth. Gloria grew up with her sisters, mother, and grandparents. She remembers her sister teaching her how to peel and eat sunflower stalks with salt.

For high school, Gloria attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico. After high school, she went to Portland Community College. Later, in 1990, she earned her bachelor's degree in English from Lewis and Clark College. In 1992, she completed her master's degree in literature at the University of Arizona.

Becoming a Writer

Gloria Bird started writing at a young age. She was living on the reservation and found writing to be a way to express herself. Her first few poems were the beginning of her writing journey.

Her first poetry book, Full Moon on the Reservation, was published in 1993. This book helped her win her first award as a writer. In 1997, she published her second book, The River of History. Gloria's writing has also appeared in many collections of works by different authors, known as anthologies. Some of these include Speaking for Generations and Reinventing the Enemy's Language.

Important Themes in Her Work

Gloria Bird's writing often describes her life on a reservation. She writes about her experiences as both a Native American person and a woman. Her work is strongly driven by a desire to educate others. She wants to show how Native Americans are often unfairly stereotyped. She believes these stereotypes can be very damaging to Native communities.

Bird also explores themes of relationships between genders in her poems. She writes with deep feeling about ideas like birth, death, and rebirth.

Teaching and Community Work

After finishing her studies at the University of Arizona, Gloria Bird became a creative writing teacher. She taught for five years at the arts school she once attended in New Mexico. During this time, she also worked as a co-editor for the Wíčazo Ša Review.

As a teacher, Bird led a special workshop called "Subversive Literary Strategy." This workshop took place at the Fishtrap Gathering in Joseph, Oregon. Gloria is also one of the people who helped start the Northwest Native Writers Association. Today, she teaches part-time at Salish Kootenai College. She also works for the Spokane tribe and continues to be an associate editor for the Wíčazo Ša Review.

Awards and Publications

Awards

• Diane Memorial Award for Poetry (1992)
• Witter-Bynner Foundation Grant for Individual Writers (1993)
• Oregon Institute of Literary Arts, Oregon Writers Grant (1988)

Poetry Books

• The River of History, Trask House Press
• Full Moon on the Reservation, Greenfield Review Press
• Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writing of North America, Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird (editors), W.W. Norton

Anthologies (Collections of Writings)

• River of Memory: The Everlasting Columbia, William D. Layman (editor), Washington Univ. Pr.
• Getting over the Color Green: Contemporary Environmental Literature of the Southwest, Scott Slovic (Editor), Univ. AZ Press
• First Fish, First People: Salmon Tales of the North Pacific, Judith Roche and Meg McHutchison (Editors), University of Washington Press
• Speaking for the Generations: Native Writers on Writing (Sun Tracks, Vol. 35), University of Arizona Press
• Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writing of North America, Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird (editors), W.W. Norton
• The Indian Summer issue of phati’tude Literary Magazine
• Dancing on the Rim of the World: An Anthology of Contemporary Northwest Native American Writing (Sun Tracks, Vol 19), Andrea Lerner (Editor), Univ of Arizona Press
• Blue Dawn, Red Earth: New Native American Storytellers, Clifford E. Trafzer (Editor), Anchor Books
• Writing the Circle: Native Women of Western Canada: An Anthology, Jeanne Perreault, Sylvia Vance (Editor), Univ of Oklahoma Press
• Returning the Gift: Poetry and Prose from the First North American Native Writers' Festival (Sun Tracks Books, No 29), University of Arizona Press
• Talking Leaves: Contemporary Native American Short Stories, Craig Lesley, Katheryn Stavrakis (Editor) Dell Books

Interviews and Autobiographical Essays

• Here First, Arnold Krupat (Editor), Brian Swann (Editor), Random House
• Speaking for the Generations: Native Writers on Writing (Sun Tracks, Vol. 35), University of Arizona Press