Leslie Marmon Silko facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Leslie Marmon Silko
Silko at a 2011 reading
Born	Leslie Marmon (1948-03-05) March 5, 1948 (age 77) Albuquerque, New Mexico
Occupation	Writer educator film maker
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of New Mexico
Genre	Fiction
Literary movement	Native American Renaissance
Notable work	Ceremony (1977) Storyteller (1981) Almanac of the Dead (1991)

Leslie Marmon Silko (born March 5, 1948) is an important American writer. She is from the Laguna Pueblo people. Many people see her as a key figure in the "Native American Renaissance." This was a time when many Native American writers became well-known.

Silko has received many awards for her writing. In 1981, she got a special grant from the MacArthur Foundation. She also won a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. In 2020, she received the Robert Kirsch Award. Today, she lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Growing Up and Family Heritage

Leslie Marmon Silko was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her father, Leland Howard Marmon, was a famous photographer. Her mother, Mary Virginia Leslie, was a teacher. Leslie grew up on the Laguna Pueblo reservation. Her family had a mix of backgrounds, including white American, Native American, and Mexican heritage.

She wrote that her grandmother had some Plains Indian family. Her other grandmother had some Cherokee heritage. Silko's family home was on the edge of the Laguna Pueblo reservation. This meant she sometimes couldn't join in all the traditional ceremonies.

Silko calls herself a "mixed-breed." She believes that feeling connected to a community is more important than how much Native American heritage someone has. She said that a person's identity should come from their community. She identifies as a Laguna woman culturally.

While her parents worked, Leslie and her two sisters were cared for by their grandmothers. Her grandmother, Lillie Stagner, and great-grandmother, Helen Romero, were both great storytellers. Leslie learned many traditional Laguna stories from them. She also learned from her aunt Susie and grandfather Hank. Because of this, Silko feels very connected to her Laguna heritage. She once said, "I am of mixed-breed ancestry, but what I know is Laguna."

Leslie went to Laguna BIA School for elementary grades. Then she went to a Catholic school. Her father drove her 100 miles each day to avoid a boarding school. She later earned a degree in English Literature from the University of New Mexico in 1969. She briefly studied law before becoming a full-time writer.

Early Writing Career

Leslie Silko first became known for her short story, "The Man to Send Rain Clouds." This story won a special grant. It is still included in many collections of stories today.

From 1968 to 1974, Silko wrote and published many short stories and poems. These were collected in her book Laguna Woman (1974).

Other books she wrote include:

• Laguna Woman: Poems (1974)
• Ceremony (1977)
• Storyteller (1981)
• With the Delicacy and Strength of Lace: Letters Between Leslie Marmon Silko and James Wright (1985), with poet James A. Wright
• Almanac of the Dead (1991)
• Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today (1996)

Silko also wrote a movie script based on a comic book called Honkytonk Sue. She worked with novelist Larry McMurtry on it, but the movie was never made.

Important Themes in Her Books

Leslie Silko's writing often explores the history and land of the Laguna Pueblo people. She wants to keep cultural traditions alive. She also wants to understand how the past affects life today.

Her books often show how Native American traditions can survive alongside modern American life. She writes about the challenges people face when different cultures meet. This is a common theme in the American Southwest.

Silko's work is important because it helps people understand Native American cultures. It shows different ideas about identity and traditions. These ideas are often not seen in mainstream American literature.

In 1995, Silko explained that her writings continue the oral storytelling traditions of the Laguna people. She said her works are not just new versions of old legends. Instead, they carry the same important messages that were told hundreds of years ago. Silko believes that the Pueblo people see time as a circle, not a straight line. This means that something that happened a long time ago can still feel very real and important today.

Ceremony

Leslie Marmon Silko's novel Ceremony was first published in 1977. It received a lot of praise from critics.

The story is about Tayo, a young man who fought in World War II. He is part Laguna and part white. Tayo returns to his Laguna reservation after the war. He is struggling with the stress and memories of the war. He is especially haunted by his cousin Rocky, who died during the Bataan Death March.

At first, Tayo tries to escape his pain. But his Old Grandma and a Navajo medicine-man named Betonie help him. They use Native ceremonies to help him understand the world better. They also help him find his place as a Laguna man.

Ceremony became very popular with veterans returning from the Vietnam War. They found that the book's themes of coping, healing, and finding peace were very meaningful. This book helped make Silko known as one of the "Four Native American Literary Masters."

Ceremony is still studied in colleges and universities today. It is one of the few books by a Native American author that has been widely studied.

Storyteller and Delicacy and Strength of Lace

In 1981, Silko released Storyteller. This book is a collection of poems and short stories. It mixes creative writing, myths, and parts of her own life. People liked it because it had a similar poetic style to her novel Ceremony.

In 1986, Delicacy and Strength of Lace was published. This book contains letters exchanged between Silko and her friend, the poet James Wright. Wright's wife, Ann Wright, put the book together after James Wright passed away in 1980.

Almanac of the Dead and Other Works

The novel Almanac of the Dead was published in 1991. It took Silko ten years to write this book. The story covers both American continents. It includes many different characters, like the Zapatista Army of National Liberation from Mexico. Like Ceremony, this novel also explores the conflict between Anglo-Americans and Native Americans.

In June 1993, Silko published a special, limited edition of Sacred Water. She made each copy by hand using her own typewriter. She combined her writing with photographs she had taken. Sacred Water includes stories from her life, poems, and Pueblo myths. It focuses on how important water is for life. Silko made a second printing in 1994 so more students could read it.

Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today was published in 1997. This book is a collection of essays on different topics. It includes a story about her childhood at Laguna Pueblo. It also talks about the challenges she faced as a person of mixed heritage. The book also discusses the importance of words to the Pueblo people. One essay, "Yellow Woman," is about a young woman who gets involved with her kidnapper. This story is connected to the traditional Laguna legend of the Yellow Woman.

In 1997, Silko also made a limited number of handmade books called Rain. Like Sacred Water, Rain combined short stories and poems from her life with her photographs. This small book focused on how important rain is for survival in the Southwest.

Gardens in the Dunes was published in 1999. This book tells the story of a young girl named Indigo. She is from a fictional group called the "Sand Lizard People." The story explores themes of women's rights, slavery, and plants. It also shows the time when Indian boarding schools were enforced.

The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir

In 2010, Silko released The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir. A memoir is a book about a person's own life. This book is written in a unique style, like Native American storytelling. It explores her family history, which includes Laguna Pueblo, Cherokee, Mexican, and European roots. It also talks about nature, suffering, and the environment. The desert Southwest is a very important setting in the book.

Personal Life

In 1965, Leslie married Richard C. Chapman. They had a son named Robert Chapman. They later divorced in 1969.

In 1971, she married John Silko. They had a son named Casimir Silko. This marriage also ended in divorce.

See also

• List of writers from peoples Indigenous to the Americas
• Native American Studies