Mary TallMountain
From NativeWiki
Mary TallMountain (b 1918, Nulato, Alaska - d. September 2, 1997) (Koyukon/Athabaskan) TallMountain was born Mary Demoski, of mixed heritage - Russian, Irish, and Athapascan. She was adopted at the age of six by non-Native American parents after her birth mother died of tuberculosis. TallMountain became a poet when she was in her fifties after working for many years as a legal secretary in San Francisco. The impetus to write came after striking up a friendship with Native American scholar and poet Paula Gunn Allen; for 18 months TallMountain wrote for sixteen hours a day and met with Allen weekly for tutoring. The result was a body of lyrical work that draws heavily upon her early years in an Alaskan village during the 1920s. Her first book, There Is No Word for Goodbye, was published in 1981.
In 1989, TallMountain was interviewed by Bill Moyers and read for his PBS poetry series called The Power of the Word. She also established the nonprofit TallMountain Circle, an organization that benefits promising authors, especially writers from inner-city San Francisco and those of Native American heritage.
[edit] Writing Available Online
[edit] Books
Nine Poems, Friars Press, 1977.
There Is No Word for Goodbye, Blue Cloud Quarterly, 1981.
Green March Moons, New Seed Press, 1987. Continuum, Blue Cloud Quarterly, 1988.
Matrilineal Cycle, Open Heart Press, 1988.
The Light on the Tent Wall, UCLA Press, 1990.
A Quick Brush of Wings, Freedom Voices Pub, 1991.
Listen To The Night: Poems To the Animal Spirits of Mother Earth, Freedom Voices Pub, 1992.
Haiku and Other Poetic Forms, Freedom Voices Pub, 1996.
[edit] See Also
- A short biography from the Native American Authors Project at the Internet Public Library
