Peter Blue Cloud

From NativeWiki

Peter Blue Cloud (Aroniawenrate) (b. June 10, 1933, Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada) is a Mohawk poet. He was raised on a Mohawk reservation in Kahnawake, Quebec where attended school as well as in Buffalo, New York. While he spoke only the Mohawk language at home, hew was introduced to books in English by his grandfather. He began writing poems and songs as a teenager. He first published in the journal Akwesasne Notes, where he became poetry editor in 1975. He has also worked as an ironworker, logger, carpenter, and woodcutter.

Blue Cloud is noted for combining Native American myths with contemporary issues. He is especially noted for his use of the Coyote figure in his stories and poems.

[edit] Awards

Blue Cloud received the American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation, 1981 for Back Then Tomorrow.

[edit] Books

Alcatraz Is Not an Island (Editor) (nonfiction), Wingbow Press, 1972.
Coyote and Friends, Blackberry Press, 1976.
Turtle, Bear, and Wolf (poetry), Akwesasne Press, 1976.
Back Then Tomorrow (poetry/prose), Blackberry Press, 1978.
White Corn Sister (poetry/play), Strawberry Press, 1979.
Elderberry Flute Song (poetry/prose), Crossing Press, 1982.
Coyote's Journal (poetry/prose), (Editor with James Koller, Gogisgi Carroll Arnett, and Steve Nemirow) Bookpeople, 1983.
Sketches of Winter with Crows (poetry), Strawberry Press, 1984.
The Other Side of Nowhere (poetry/prose), White Pine, 1990.
Clans of Many Nations: Selected Poems, 1969-1992, White Pine, 1993.