Lannan Readings & Conversations

Simon Ortiz


Wednesday October 12 2005

(from left) Leslie Marmon Silko, Simon Ortiz, and Joy Harjo in conversation  at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Wednesday, October 12, 2005. Photo: Don Usner

Poet, writer, and storyteller, Simon Ortiz's books include Woven Stone, From Sand Creek, and After and Before the Lightning. In the late 1980's, Mr. Ortiz held official tribal positions as Interpreter and First Lieutenant Governor of Acoma Pueblo, his native community in New Mexico. As a major Native American writer he insists on telling the story of his people's land, culture, and community, a story that has been marred by social, political, and economic conflicts with Euro-American society. Ortiz's insistence, however, is upon a story that stresses vision and hope by creative struggle and resistance to human and technological oppression.

Simon Ortiz Bio and Cross Links