The Native Writers' Circle of the Americas (NWCA) is an organization of writers who identify as being Native American, First Nations, or of Native American ancestry.
The organization presents literary awards annually to writers in three categories: First Book of Poetry First Book of Prose Lifetime Achievement.
The awards are voted upon by member writers.
The Circle (along with its sister organization, the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers) was formed as the outgrowth of the 1992 "Returning the Gift" Native Writers' Festival, a gathering of writers from Canada, the United States, Mexico and the Central America. The NWCA maintains contact information for Native American writers and a collection of Native American literature. The organization has been hosted by the University of Oklahoma's department of Native American Studies and is currently housed in the Department of English.
Lifetime Achievement Awards The Native Writers' Circle of the Americas awarded the following Native authors with Lifetime Achievement Awards: 1992: N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa) 1993: Simon J. Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo) 1994: Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo descent) 1995: Joy Harjo (Muscogee) 1996: Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux) 1997: James Welch (Blackfeet/Gros Ventre) 1998: Linda Hogan (Chickasaw) 1999: Joseph Bruchac (Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation) 2000: Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) 2001: Paula Gunn Allen (Laguna Pueblo descent) and Gerald Vizenor (White Earth Chippewa) 2002: Maurice Kenny (self-identified Mohawk/Seneca ancestry) 2003: Geary Hobson (Cherokee Nation/Quapaw/Chickasaw) 2004: Lee Francis (Laguna Pueblo descent) 2005: Carter Revard (Osage Nation) 2006: Luci Tapahonso (Navajo) 2007: Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (Crow Creek Sioux) 2008: Robert J. Conley (Cherokee Nation) 2009: Jack D. Forbes (self-identified Powhatan Renape/Lenape descent) 2010: Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur D'Alene) 2011: Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee Nation) 2012: LeAnne Howe (Choctaw Nation) 2013: Donald L. Birchfield (Choctaw Nation/Chickasaw) 2014: Diane Glancy (self-identified Cherokee descent) 2015: Allison Adelle Hedge Coke (self-identified Metis/Huron/Cherokee descent) 2016: John Trudell (Santee Dakota) and Jim Northrup (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) 2017: Duane Niatum (Klallam) 2018: William S. Yellow Robe Jr. (Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation) 2019: Maria Campbell (Métis)
First Book Awards for Prose 1992: Robert L. Perea (Oglala Lakota), Stacey's Story Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel (Mohegan), The Lasting of the Mohegans William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. (Assiniboine), The Star Quilter (play, published in Where the Pavement Ends) 1993: Philip H. Red Eagle (Sioux-Klallam), Red Earth 1994: Gus Palmer, Jr. (Kiowa), Calling Through the Creek 1995: Glenn J. Twist (Cherokee Nation/Muscogee), Boston Mountain Tales 1996: No award. 1997: Robert J. Perry (Chickasaw), Life With the Little People D. L. Birchfield (Choctaw Nation/Chickasaw), The Oklahoma Basic Intelligence Test 1998: No award. 1999: Evelina Zuni Lucero (Isleta Pueblo/Ohkay Owingeh), Night Sky, Morning Star 2000: Chip Livingston (self-identified Poarch Creek), Naming Ceremony 2001: Valerie Red-Horse (self-identified Cherokee descent), Naturally Native 2002: Edythe S. Hobson (Arkansas Quapaw), An Inquest Every Sunday 2003: Susan Supernaw (Muscogee Creek/Munsee), The Power of a Name 2004: Kimberly G. Roppolo (self-identified Southeastern American Indian ancestry), Back to the Blanket: Reading, Writing, and Resistance for American Indian Literary Critics 2005: Mia Heavener (Central Yup'ik), Tundra Berries 2006: Judy R. Smith (self-identified Quinnipiac/Mohican), Yellowbird Frederick White (Haida), Welcome to the City of Rainbows 2007: Mary Lockwood (Malemuit Iñupiaq), Attugu Summa/Come and See What It Is 2008: Linda LeGarde Grover (Chippewa, Bois Forte Band of Minnesota), "The Road Back to Sweetgrass" 2009: JudyLee Oliva (Chickasaw), Te Ata and Other Plays 2018: no award given
First Book Awards for Poetry 1992: Gloria Bird (Spokane), Full Moon on the Reservation Joe Dale Tate Nevaquaya (Yuchi/Comanche), Leaving Holes 1993: Kimberly Blaeser (White Earth Chippewa), Trailing You 1994: Tiffany Midge (Standing Rock Sioux), Outlaws, Renegades and Saints 1995: Denise Sweet (White Earth Chippewa), Songs for Discharming 1996: Charles G. Ballard (Quapaw/Cherokee), Winter Count Poems 1997: Deborah A. Miranda (Costanoan/Esselen/Ohlone), Indian Cartography 1998: Jennifer K. Greene (Salish-Kootenai/Chippewa/Cree), What I Keep 1999: Janet McAdams (self-identified Alabama Creek descent), The Island of Lost Luggage 2000: Karenne Wood (Monacan), Markings on Earth 2001: Suzanne Rancourt (self-identified Abenaki/Huron descent), Billboard in the Clouds 2002: Renee Matthew (Koyukon), Down River From Here Phillip Caroll Morgan (Choctaw/Chickasaw), The Fork-in-the-Road Indian Poetry Store 2003: Marlon D. Sherman (Oglala Lakota), Wild Plums 2004: Christina M. Castro (Jemez Pueblo/Taos Pueblo), Silence on the Rez Cathy Ruiz (Cree/Métis), Stirring up the Water 2005: Kim Shuck (Cherokee Nation), Smuggling Cherokee 2006: Rebecca Hatcher Travis (Chickasaw), Picked Apart the Bones 2007: Kade L. Twist (Cherokee Nation), Amazing Grace 2008: Steve Russell (Cherokee Nation), Wicked Dew 2009: Rain Prud’homme-Cranford (Rain C. Goméz) (Louisiana Creole), Smoked Mullet Cornbread Crawdad Memory 2018: Yulu Elwis (Kristen Debler) (Coast Miwok/Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria), Opé
See also List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas List of 20th-century writers
References
External links The Lifetime Achievement Awards and the First Book Competition Awards NWCA Awards list