Janet Campbell Hale facts for kids

Janet Campbell Hale (born January 11, 1946 – died November 23, 2021) was an important Native American writer and teacher. She was part of the Coeur d'Alene people and also had Ktunaxa and Cree family roots. Her books often explored what it means to be a Native American. She also wrote about the difficulties people face, especially women, and how they overcome challenges.

Her Books and Writing

Janet Campbell Hale wrote several well-known books. One of her books, Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter (1993), shares stories from her own life. It also talks about the experiences of Native American people.

She also wrote The Owl's Song in 1974. This book is for young adults. It tells the story of Billy White Hawk, a fourteen-year-old boy. Billy leaves his father, who struggled with alcohol, and moves from an Idaho reservation. He goes to live with his sister in California. There, Billy faces unkindness from other students. But he finds support from an art teacher and an elder from his tribe. The elder explains that for many tribes, the owl's song means sadness or loss.

Another famous book by Hale is The Jailing of Cecelia Capture. This book was even nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1985. She also wrote Women on the Run (1999) and a book of poems called Custer Lives in Humboldt County & Other Poems (1978).

Early Life

Janet Campbell Hale was born on January 11, 1946, in Riverside, California. Her father, Nicholas Patrick Campbell, was a Coeur d'Alene man. He became an American citizen after serving in the U.S. Army during the first world war. Her mother, Margaret Sullivan Campbell, was from Canada. Her mother's family had Irish, Kootenay, and Cree roots.

The family usually lived on the Coeur D'Alene reservation. However, a brother born before Janet had only lived a few hours. To avoid the dangers of winter weather, her family moved to southern California for Janet's birth. They returned to northern Idaho in June 1946. They lived on the reservation until 1956.

Janet went to high school in Wapato, Washington. Later, she moved to the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Early Writing Success

Janet Campbell Hale started winning awards for her writing early on. In 1963, she won the Vincent Price Poetry Competition. The next year, in 1964, she received a New York Poetry Day award. Her poems "Red Eagle" and "Nespelim Man (a song)" were published in a book called The Whispering Wind: poetry by young American Indians in 1972.

Main Ideas in Her Work

A big idea in Janet Campbell Hale's writing is "capture." For example, the main character in The Jailing of Cecelia Capture is named for this idea. She is also "captured" in different ways throughout the story. In her book Bloodlines, Hale turned around common stories. Instead of white people being captured by Native Americans, she wrote about Native people being "captured" or held back by people of European descent. Her stories often show how characters escape or change these situations of being "captured."

Teaching Career

Janet Campbell Hale also shared her knowledge by teaching. She taught at several colleges and universities. These included Northwest Indian College, Iowa State University, College of Illinois, and University of California at Santa Cruz. She also worked as a visiting writer at the University of Oregon and University of Washington.

Later Life

Janet Campbell Hale passed away on November 23, 2021. She was 75 years old. She died in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho from problems related to COVID-19.