Chrystos
From NativeWiki
Chrystos (born 7 November, 1946, San Francisco, California) is a Menominee poet and rights activist. She is of mixed-blood ancestry; her father, who was of Menominee ancestry; her mother's heritage was Lithuanian/Alsace Lorraine. She was raised in the city and identifies herself as an Urban Indian. Since 1980, she has been living on Bainbridge Island, Washington. She has worked as a home caretaker, an activist for Native land and treaty rights and freedom for imprisoned Indian activists Leonard Peltier and Norma Jean Croy.
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Life and Career
Born in San Francisco, she is a Lesbian and Two-Spirit identified writer who focus on themes revolving around the violence that adjoins everyday life in many urban areas. <ref>Sorrel, Lorraine, Not Vanishing. Off Our Backs. Washington: Mar 31, 1989. Vol.19, Iss. 3.</ref> She also tries to incorporate an awareness of universal currents in her works, introducing a diverse mixture of characters and ideas. Her first published work, Not Vanishing concentrates on a Native American women and environment she returns to after work, a life shielded from mainstream cultural understanding.
Awards
- Audre Lorde International Poetry Competition in 1994
- Sappho Award of Distinction from the Astraea National Lesbian Action Foundation in 1995.
Bibliography
- Some Poems By People I Like (anthology of 5 poets) Toronto: sandraslittlebookshop, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9739540-1-2
- Not Vanishing Vancouver: Press Gang, 1988, ISBN 0-8897-4015-1
- Dream On Vancouver: Press Gang, 1991.
- In Her I Am Vancouver: Press Gang, 1993.
- Fugitive Colors Cleveland: Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 1995, ISBN 1-8808-3411-1
- Fire Power. Vancouver: Press Gang, 1995, ISBN 0-889-7404-7X
