Gwen Nell WestermanGwen
Nell Westerman's roots are deep in the landscape of the tall grass
prairie, and reveal themselves in her art and writing through the
languages and traditions of her family. She is an enrolled member of
the Sisseton Wahpeton DakotaOyate, her father's people, and a
citizen of the Cherokee Nation, her mother's people. She is the
co-author of Mni
Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota which
won a 2013 Minnesota Book Award, and a 2014 Hognander Minnesota
History Award. Gwen's
poems, essays, and short stories appear in numerous publications,
including the Norton
Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (2020); the
Minnesota issue of Quiltfolk (January
2020); and New
Poets of Native Nations (Graywolf
Press, 2018). Her poetry collection Follow
the Blackbirds (2013)
was published by Michigan State University Press. She
holds her BA and MA in English from Oklahoma State University, and
PhD in English from the University of Kansas. She teaches American
and Native Nations literatures, Technical Communication, and
Humanities to undergraduate and graduate students at Minnesota State
University, Mankato.