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 American writer. She is from the Laguna Pueblo people and is a very important writer in a movement called the Native American Renaissance. This movement brought attention to Native American literature.

Silko received the MacArthur Foundation Grant in 1981. She also won the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. In 2020, she received the Robert Kirsch Award. Today, she lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Growing Up in New Mexico

Leslie Marmon Silko was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her father, Leland Howard Marmon, was a well-known photographer. Her mother, Mary Virginia Leslie, was a teacher. Leslie grew up on the Laguna Pueblo Indian reservation.

Silko has a mixed heritage, including Laguna Pueblo Indian, Anglo American, and Mexican American roots. She often highlights her Laguna heritage in her writing.

Her family's house was right at the edge of the Laguna Pueblo reservation. This meant she was close to, but also a bit separate from, the main pueblo community. She was not allowed to join some tribal rituals or religious groups.

While her parents worked, Leslie and her two sisters were looked after by their grandmother, Lillie Stagner, and great-grandmother, Helen Romero. Both of them were wonderful storytellers. From her grandmother, whom she called A'mooh, and her aunt Susie and grandfather Hank, Silko learned many traditional stories of the Laguna people. She has always felt a strong connection to her Laguna ancestors. She once said, "I am of mixed-breed ancestry, but what I know is Laguna."

Silko went to the Laguna BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) School for preschool through fourth grade. After that, she attended the Albuquerque Indian School. Her father drove her 100 miles each day to avoid a boarding-school experience. She later earned a BA in English Literature from the University of New Mexico in 1969. She briefly studied law before becoming a full-time writer.

Early Writing Career

Silko first gained attention for her short story "The Man to Send Rain Clouds." This story won a National Endowment for the Humanities Discovery Grant. It is still included in many collections of stories today.

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

Her other important works include: Laguna Woman: Poems (1974), Ceremony (1977), and Storyteller (1981). She also wrote With the Delicacy and Strength of Lace: Letters Between Leslie Marmon Silko and James Wright (1985) with poet James A. Wright. Her novel Almanac of the Dead came out in 1991. A collection of essays, Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today, was published in 1996.

Silko also wrote a screenplay based on the comic book Honkytonk Sue with novelist Larry McMurtry. However, this movie was never made.

Important Themes in Her Work

Throughout her career, Leslie Marmon Silko has stayed connected to the Laguna Pueblo landscape. This place is full of history and has greatly influenced her writing. Her experiences there made her want to protect cultural traditions. She also wanted to understand how the past affects life today.

Silko's writing often makes people aware of unfair treatment and the impact of dominant cultures. She also supports women's issues. Her novels feature characters who try to find a balance between Native American traditions and the challenges of modern America. The conflict between different cultures is a common theme in her stories about the American Southwest.

Her books are very important because they help expand how we define American literature. They include traditions, ideas, and identities that are often not well-represented. These ideas are central to many American Indian cultures, especially Silko's Laguna heritage.

In an interview in 1995, Silko explained that her writings continue the oral storytelling tradition 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 this is because the Laguna people see time as "round" or like an "ocean," not as a straight line. This means something that happened long ago can still feel very real and immediate today.

Ceremony

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

The novel tells the story of Tayo, a World War II veteran who is part Laguna and part white. He is wounded and suffering from "battle fatigue" (also called shell-shock). Tayo returns to his Laguna reservation, which is struggling with poverty. He is haunted by memories of his cousin Rocky, who died during the Bataan Death March in 1942.

Ceremony has been seen as a story where the hero faces challenges to reach a goal. However, some critics say this view is too focused on European ideas. They argue that the story is deeply rooted in Native American traditions. Silko's writing skill in the novel comes from her use of storytelling. This helps pass on traditions and understanding from older generations to newer ones. Another Pueblo poet, Paula Gunn Allen, criticized the book. She felt that Silko was sharing secret tribal knowledge that should only be for the tribe, not for outsiders.

Ceremony became very popular with returning Vietnam War veterans. They connected with the novel's themes of coping, healing, and finding peace between different groups of people. The book helped many understand the trauma of military actions. Because of this powerful work, critic Alan Velie named Silko one of his "Four Native American Literary Masters." The others were N. Scott Momaday, Gerald Vizenor, and James Welch.

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

Works from the 1980s

Storyteller

In 1981, Silko released Storyteller. This book is a collection of poems and short stories. It combines creative writing, mythology, and parts of her own life. It was well-received because it had a similar poetic style to her novel Ceremony.

Delicacy and Strength of Lace

In 1986, Delicacy and Strength of Lace was published. This book contains letters exchanged between Silko and her friend James Wright. They met after Ceremony was published. Wright's wife, Ann Wright, edited the book. It was released after James Wright's death in 1980.

Works from the 1990s

Almanac of the Dead

Almanac of the Dead was published in 1991. This novel took Silko ten years to write. It received mixed reviews. The story covers both American continents and includes many characters. A small part of the story features the Zapatista Army of National Liberation revolutionaries from Chiapas, Mexico. Like Ceremony, a main theme of the novel is the conflict between Anglo-Americans and Native Americans.

Sacred Water

In June 1993, Silko published a small number of copies of Sacred Water. She created these books herself under her Flood Plain Press. Each copy of Sacred Water was handmade by Silko. She used her own typewriter to combine written text with her photographs.

Sacred Water includes stories from her life, poetry, and Pueblo mythology. It focuses on how important water is for life.

Silko made a second printing of Sacred Water in 1994. She wanted to make the book more available to students and scholars. This edition used printing methods that allowed for wider distribution.

Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today

Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today was published in March 1997.

This book is a collection of short stories and essays on different topics. It includes a story about her childhood at Laguna Pueblo and the challenges she faced as a person of mixed heritage. It also praises the ancient Aztec and Maya books and discusses Pueblo mythology.

One reviewer noted that Silko's essays include traditional storytelling and discussions about the power of words to the Pueblo people. They also feature memories of photography and thoughts on the relationship between the U.S. government and various nations.

The short story "Yellow Woman" is about a young woman who becomes involved with her kidnapper, even though she has a husband and children. This story is connected to the traditional Laguna legend of the Yellow Woman.

Rain

In 1997, Silko produced a limited number of handmade books called Rain through Flood Plain Press. Like Sacred Water, Rain combined short stories from her life and poetry with her photographs.

This short book focused on how important rain is for survival in the Southwest, both personally and spiritually.

Gardens In The Dunes

Gardens in the Dunes was published in 1999. This book explores themes of feminism, slavery, conquest, and plants. It follows the story of a young girl named Indigo from the fictional "Sand Lizard People" in the Arizona Territory. Indigo travels to Europe as a companion to a wealthy white woman named Hattie.

The story takes place during a time when Indian boarding schools were being enforced. It also includes the California Gold Rush and the rise of the Ghost Dance Religion.

Works from the 2000s

The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir

In 2010, Silko released The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir. This book is written in a unique style, influenced by Native American storytelling. It explores her family history, including Laguna Pueblo, Cherokee, Mexican, and European roots. It also discusses the natural world, suffering, insights, environmentalism, and sacred ideas. The desert Southwest is a very important setting in the book. Even though it's non-fiction, its style makes it feel like a creative story.

See also

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