Writing the Land with Greg Sarris
June 16, 2022 | 6:00 pm
The California Historical Society presents storyteller and tribal leader Greg Sarris as he explores how, despite the trauma of settler-colonialism, Native American communities have preserved cultural heritage through the power of story and the significance of these stories in influencing our relationship with the lands where we live.
Drawing from his experience writing his own “fascinating and evocative memoir in essays” (Kirkus, starred review), Sarris will share insights of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo ancestors whose inspiration is alive in his writing. His talk will underscore the urgency of what these inherited wisdom and the rise of Native American literature have to teach us in the era of climate breakdown.
Register HereAbout the Speaker
Greg Sarris
Greg Sarris is an enrolled member of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and is currently serving his seventeenth consecutive elected term as chairman of the tribe. He is the author of several books, including the novel Grand Avenue, which he adapted for an HBO miniseries and co-executive produced with Robert Redford; the novel Watermelon Nights; Weaving the Dream, a biography of Mabel McKay; Becoming Story, a memoir; and the story collections How a Mountain Was Made and The Forgetters. Formerly a full professor of English at UCLA, Sarris serves on the University of California Board of Regents and the Sundance Institute Board, and he holds the Distinguished Emeritus Graton Endowed Chair in Native American Studies at Sonoma State University. He lives in Sonoma County, California. (Photo by Beowulf Sheehan)
