Here First: Autobiographical Essays by Native American Writers

An important collection of essays by twenty-six Native American writers that explores their unique lives, art, and the complex issues of identity, compiled by the editors of I Tell You Now: Autobiographical Essays by Native American Writers

The stunning essays in Here First demonstrate the breadth of experience of twenty-six individuals united in the creative expression of a Native American heritage. Each has a different relation to that heritage, and in describing it through personal and family history, with verse and in anecdotes, the writers give a strong image of the different cultures that have shaped them.
This is a vivid and diverse portrait of Native American culture, a living history and the kind of collective memoir that makes for fascinating and rewarding reading.

Contributors include:
Sherman Alexie • Carroll Arnett (Gogisgi) • Betty Louise Bell • Duane Bigeagle • Gloria Bird • Kimberly M. Blaeser • Nora Marks Dauenhauer • Charlotte Declue (Kawashinsay) • Anita Endrezze • Hanay Geiogamah • Gordon Henry, Jr., • Patricia Penn Hilden • Roberta Hill • Leanne Howe • Rex Lee Jim • Evelina Zuni Lucero • Louis Owens • W.S. Penn • Greg Sarris • Vickie Sears • John E. Smelcer • Luci Tapahonso • Clifford E. Trafzer • Anna Lee Walters Elizabeth Woody • Ofelia Zepeda

Arnold Krupat is the author of several books, including The Turn to the Native: Studies in Criticism & Culture and the novel Woodsmen, or Thoreau and the Indians. He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

Brian Swann has published a number of collections of poetry and fiction, including Wearing the Morning Star: Native American Song-Poems and Coming to Light: Contemporary Translations of the Native Literatures of North America. He teaches at the Cooper Union in New York City.