To read the story published by the New York State Writers Institute about this honor that has been given to Joe Bruchac, please click here.
On Tuesday, January 17, 2023, Joseph Bruchac was honored as the first Poet Laureate of Saratoga Springs at a ceremony that took place at 7 p.m. at Saratoga Springs City Hall, 474 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. The Vermont Abenaki Artists Association is privileged to call Joseph Bruchac one of our own. His titles are many: author, writer, Doctor, poet, Tribal Elder, storyteller. His children’s books (and there are over 120 of them) can be found in most school libraries.
Enrolled Citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation
Juried Artist since 2013
Chief Don Stevens is an award-winning leader, businessman, writer, and lecturer. He has been featured in magazines, books, TV shows, and documentaries. He was appointed to the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs by Governor Douglas in 2006 for two terms, where he served as Chair and led the fight to obtain legal recognition for the Abenaki People in Vermont. Chief Stevens was able to acquire tribal land for the Nulhegan Tribe which had been absent for over 200 years. A gifted storyteller, he speaks about issues of Native American Sovereignty, Racial Disparity, and Abenaki Identity.
He was appointed by the Attorney General to the “Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems Advisory Panel” and serves on the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Advisory Panel and Vermont State Police Fairness and Diversity Advisory Panel.
Enrolled Citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation
Juried Artist since 2018
Joseph Bruchac lives in the Adirondack Mountains of New York in the house where his grandparents raised him. An enrolled citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Abenaki Nation, much of his work draws on his native ancestry.
He and his sons, James and Jesse, work together in projects involving Native language renewal, traditional Native skills, and environmental education at their Ndakinna Education Center (www.ndakinnacenter.org) on their 90 acre nature preserve.
Author of over 180 books for young readers and adults, his experiences include teaching in Ghana, running a college program in a maximum security prison and 40 years of teaching martial arts.A featured storyteller at numerous festivals, including the British Storytelling Festival, Clearwater, Corn Island, and the National Storytelling Festival, his Keepers of the Earth books (co-authored with Michael Caduto), which use traditional Native American stories to teach science, have over a million copies in print.
“His novel CODE TALKER, about the Navajo marines in World War II who used their language to create an unbreakable code, was named by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best books of all time for young adults.”
Enrolled Citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation
Juried Artist since 2018
Jesse Bowman Bruchac
Jesse Bowman Bruchac is an enrolled Nulhegan Abenaki Citizen. He is a traditional storyteller, musician, and Abenaki language instructor. As one of the last fluent speakers of Western Abenaki, he works vigorously to revitalize the language. His efforts have led to the creation of a Western Abenaki website, YouTube channel, Facebook group, and a number of bilingual publications.
Following in the footsteps of his father Joseph Bruchac, Jesse has been visiting schools and universities to share Northeastern Native American traditional stories, music, language, history and culture for over two decades.
As a musician he has produced several albums of Abenaki music. These include collections of traditional songs using drum and rattle, and Native American flute music. He has opened for such notable acts as The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, and at Woodstock ’94. He won the Best Storyteller Competition at Indian Summer in Milwaukee in 1995. In 1996 he toured Europe as a member of the Abenaki Drum from the Odanak reservation in Quebec. Jesse has also acted as consultant, translator, composer, and language coach for programs on AMC, National Geographic, and PBS.
Jesse began learning stories, songs, and language as a child from his father, as well as elders his family would often visit in Vermont, Maine, the Adirondacks, New Hampshire, and Canada. He began studying the language in earnest at the age of 20 from Cecile Wawanolette in 1992. He studied with her, and dozens of other speakers at the Abenaki reservation of Odanak, Quebec for over a decade. He has continued to learn and teach the language with Cecile’s son Joseph Elie Joubert.
In the fall of 2018 he began co-teaching a course in Wabanaki languages alongside renowned Eastern Algonquin linguist Conor Quinn at the University of Southern Maine.
Greetings! My name is Jesse. When I speak in the Abenaki language I am so happy (my mind and heart are good). Do not allow your own hearts to be troubled. For while you are in the world, you are the light of the world. Teach these words to your children, share them when you sit in your homes, when you travel about, when you lay down to sleep, and when you rise. Take good care of yourselves, travel well, and find peace within yourselves and among each other!
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