Duane Niatum (McGinniss) is a Native American poet, author and playwright from the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe in the northern Olympic Peninsula of the state of Washington. Niatum's work draws inspiration from all aspects of life ranging from nature, art, Native American history and humans rights. Niatum is often cited as belonging to the second wave of what

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

Kenneth Lincoln has termed the

Native American Renaissance The Native American Renaissance is a term originally coined by critic Kenneth Lincoln in the 1983 book ''Native American Renaissance'' to categorise the significant increase in production of literary works by Native Americans in the United States in ...

Early life and education

Born in 1938 in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington to a Klallam (Salish) mother and Italian-American father, Niatum struggled with his mixed Indigenous and Italian heritage which would trouble him for years. After his parents' divorce when Niatum was four years old, Niatum's

Klallam The Klallam (; also known as the S'Klallam or Clallam) are a Coast Salish people Indigenous to the northern Olympic Peninsula. The language of the Klallam is the Klallam language (), a language closely related to the North Straits Salish lang ...

grandfather became his surrogate father, which would leave a lasting impression as he would pass on the Klallam tribe's oral tradition which would later become intertwined into his writing. At the age of 17, Niatum enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, which sent him to Japan. After his military service, Niatum studied with the poets

Theodore Roethke Theodore Huebner Roethke ( ; May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963) was an American poet. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation, having won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1954 for his book '' The ...

and

Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Awar ...

at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, where he earned his B.A. in English. He went on to earn an M.A. at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

and a Ph.D. from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, where he studied American culture. His dissertation focused on the life and art of the Aleut sculptor John Hoover.

Career

Niatum established himself as one of the most influential promoters of Native American poetry when he served as editor of a Native American author series at Harper & Row Publishers, where he edited two influential anthologies: ''Carriers of the Dream Wheel: Contemporary Native American Poetry'' (1975) and ''Harper's Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry'' (1988)."The Art of Survival", ''Raven Chronicles'', David L. Moore
He has published numerous essays on Native American literature, and his own poetry has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Niatum has said his greatest influences include his Klallam grandfather and literary mentors

, and

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

. In the preface to his 2000 book ''The Crooked Beak of Love'', Niatum described the impact of his mixed ancestry on his life and work: "My aesthetic position has always been to learn and grow from whatever sources of knowledge are available...Art continues to offer the opportunity of surviving in both worlds no matter how challenging that may become at times." He also explained his grandfather's influence on his writing: "My grandfather's life and stories became the touchstones of my life and art. The center of my artistic self starts from his home and his parents' home which was almost on the beach." Niatum has taught at Seattle-area high schools as well as colleges and universities including

The Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a ...

, the

Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a Private university, private Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congreg ...

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington, United States. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, s ...

, and the

Books

* ''Earth Vowels'' Mongrel Empire, 2017. * ''The Pull of the Green Kite'' Seattle, WA: Serif & Pixel Press, 2011 * ''Agate Songs on the Path of Red Cedar: Poems'' Sequim, WA : Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, c2011 * ''Journeys That Criss-cross Darkness and Light: Poems'' acoma, WA: D. Niatum, 004?/nowiki> * ''Nesting Out for Stars, and Other Stories'' [Bellingham, WA : D. Niatum, 2002 * ''The crooked beak of love'' Albuquerque, N.M.: West End Press (2000) * ''Stories from the land of red cedar'' Seattle (1999) * ''Learning to Live With Darkness Like the Crows'' [Seattle: D. Niatum, 1994?] * ''Drawings of the Song Animals: New and Selected Poems''. Duluth, Minnesota: Holy Cow! Press (1991) * ''Harper's Anthology of Twentieth-Century Native American Poetry'' San Francisco: Harper & Row (1988) * ''Stories of the Moons'' Marvin, SD: Blue Cloud Quarterly Press (1987) * ''Raven and the Fear of Growing White'' Amsterdam, Holland: Bridge Press (1983) * ''Pieces'' New York: Strawberry Press (1981) * ''Songs for the Harvester of Dreams'' Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press (1981) * ''To Bridge the Dream'' Laguna, NM: A Press (1978) * ''Digging out the roots: poems'' New York: Harper & Row (1977) * ''Turning to the Rhythms of Her Song'' Seattle, WA: Jawbone Press (1977) * ''Carriers of the Dream Wheel: Contemporary Native American Poetry.'' Harper & Row (1975) * ''A Cycle for the Woman in the Field''. Laughing Man Press (1973) * ''Ascending Red Cedar Moon'', New York: Harper & Row (1973) * ''Taos Pueblo and Other Poems''. Greenfield Center, NY: Greenfield Review Press (1973) * ''After the Death of an Elder Klallam'' Phoenix, AZ: Baleen Press (1970) * ''Breathless'' Seattle, WA: University of Washington (1968)

Essays

Anthologies

* *

Awards and honors

Niatum has been nominated for a

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

four times, been awarded residencies at

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

and

Millay Colony for the Arts Millay Arts, formerly the Millay Colony for the Arts, is an arts community offering residency-retreats and workshops in Austerlitz, New York, and free arts programs in local public schools. Housed on the former property of feminist/activist poet ...

, and received grants from the Carnegie Fund for Authors and the PEN Fund for Writers. He has also received the following awards: *

American Book Award The American Book Awards are an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "t ...

(1982) * First Prize - Poetry. Pacific Northwest Writers Conference. (1966), (1970) * Poetry in Motion Grant Award * Nelson Bentley Award, Department of English,

(1982) * Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas (2017)

References

External links

*
"Offering it all to the Sea: Duane Niatum's new Songs", ''SAIL''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niatum, Duane 1938 births Living people Native American poets Klallam people University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni University of Michigan alumni American Book Award winners Native American academics Writers from Seattle Poets from Washington (state) American writers of Italian descent United States Navy sailors Native American United States military personnel