This week, Dr. Sarah Hernandez interviews Dr. Nick Estes as this final episode wraps up the popular podcast series featuring the ten 2020 selections of #NativeReads Books for Indigenous Communities.
The #NativeReads podcasts have been downloaded over 60,000 times.
Hold on, though, you haven’t heard the last of #NativeReads.
When the #NativeReads campaign began back in early 2019 led by Dr. Sarah Hernandez, nobody could have guessed at the global pandemic about to overtake the globe, including Indian Country.
The stories in the ten books chosen for #NativeReads, including the #NativeReads One Book selection, “Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance,” by OLWS Board Member Dr. Nick Estes (Lower Brule), gifted everyone the determination to continue with the project, even as conferences and other opportunities to share our work disappeared.
Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Hernandez (Rosebud) and Dr. Nick Estes on this successful podcast series. Congratulations are also due to the first #NativeReads committee members (Lanniko Lee, Gabrielle Tateskanskan, Patti Bordeaux Nelson, Joel Waters and Tasiyagnunpa Barondeau), representing the Oak Lake Writers Society and its dedication to Oceti Sakowin Oyate writing and the Dakota Literary Tradition. These members continued to collaborate to help adapt the project due to the pandemic and to plan for the future of #NativeReads. And we can’t forget the funder who catalyzed this project, First Nations Development Institute. Wopila tanka.
What’s next?
While the 2020 offering of #NativeReads wraps up, the Oak Lake Writers Society will be reorganizing our website to better communicate the merits of each book and allow for continued curation of important resources for each title. Our work will also be feature in educational conferences going forward.
Dr. Sarah Hernandez also has a new book coming out regarding the Dakota Literary Tradition and how our women have been integral to its development. This is just an ongoing example of the ageless nature of these particular titles.
Also, the work of #NativeReads continues, both as a podcast directed by Red Media and The Red Nation with the Dine Writers, plus a new initiative in the works, again featuring the collaboration of the Oak Lake Writers Society and the scholarship of Dr. Sarah Hernandez, assistant professor of Literary Studies at the University of New Mexico.
Wopila tanka to Sarah Hernandez for her leadership and to Nick Estes for his support. Hernandez is the first executive director of the Oak Lake Writers Society and now serves as Literature and Legacy Officer of the OLWS Board of Directors. Estes also serves on the OLWS Board of Directors.