Allison Hedge Coke

[http://www.artscouncil.sd.gov/aisc/lit5.htm] Allison Adelle Hedge Coke (born 4 August 1958) is an American poet and Canadian poet of Wendat; Huron; Metis; Tsalagi; Creek; French Canadian; Portuguese; Irish; Scot; English - ancestry descent - NTA.

Hedge Coke was born in Texas, she grew up and came of age in North Carolina, Canada, and on the Great Plains. Her early adult life was also spent in North Carolina until she was 27 years of age. An original fellow of the Black Earth Institute Think-Tank, Hedge Coke is a MacDowell Colony for the Arts Fellow, holds The Distinguished Paul W. Reynolds and Clarice Kingston Reynolds Endowed Chair in English, and is an Associate Professor of Poetry & Creative Writing in the English Department of the University of Nebraska, Kearney.

Hedge Coke has authored five books and has guest-edited "To Topos" from Oregon State University the first Indigenous Western Hemisphere volume of poetry--"Ahani: Indigenous American Poetry" 2007. She has also edited "From the Fields", an anthology of writing by migrant and rural children in California, under a Lannan Grant for California Poets In The Schools, "Coming to Life", poems for peace in response to 9-11 from students in the Sioux Falls School District, and "They Wanted Children", an anthology of Native American, Sudanese, Latino, Asian, African American and European descent students' stories and poems of adversity and strife untold in the mainstream high school they attend. She also co-edited "Voices of Thunder" and "It's Not Quiet Anymore".

Hedge Coke presents Literary performances, readings, workshops, seminars, talks, motivational presentations, and lectures and performs in-services on enhancing writing skills, NAS and Youth-at-Risk education.

Hedge Coke is a mother, grandmother who owns a home in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Reviews

Fourth Genre

“It is through her lush yet controlled use of language that Hedge Coke successfully creates a narrative of both personal and cultural history. . . . She is often unflinchingly succinct in her telling of some painful event, and other times, especially when describing moments when she is close to death, she offers us lyric gems. . . . She travels like a liminal being, moving fluidly across boundaries between prose and poetry, dream and reality, myth and history, animal and human, the personal and political.”—Fourth Genre

Booklist

If William Blake were a twenty-first-century American Indian woman, he would be Hedge Coke. Like Blake declaiming against soul-destroying "dark Satanic mills," Hedge Coke calls for us to recognize the sanctity of ancestral land and to protect it, for "no human should dismantle prayer." The specific land of which she speaks is a vast city built on the border of what is now Iowa and South Dakota. Home to as many as 10,000 people, it is now partially obliterated by plows and desecrated by looters. In a series of dramatic monologues, Hedge Coke animates the landscape and, indeed, the cosmos. Corn speaks, and various mounds; the river speaks, and deer and stone. Even the looters speak, as do the skeletons they remove for sale to medical schools. Blood Run is the setting for this long, dramatic sequence of poems, but its subject is really the need to resanctify the world. The poet's voice is oracular, deliberately disturbing and demanding. Hedge Coke's visionary long conclusion, "When the Animals Leave This Place," defines the transformation of Earth that follows disasters and offers a sensuous solace as well as a frightening prediction of what we may face as ecological change accelerates. An impressive book by an important poet.

Patricia Monaghan

Others

"Allison Hedge Coke is a skilled, spirited, young poet who is transforming and honing her social and personal experience and reflection to speak with the voice of a whole people. This is a very formidable task, but it is, finally, the work we’ve chosen. She’s up to it." - Amiri Baraka

"This fine collection of poetry by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke makes a ladder of songs. The ladder balances between the well-grooved symbol of a warrior on horseback running into the wind for battle, to a Native mother feeding her children when there is nothing. She, too, is a warrior. The poem 'The Change' stands out as a classic of contemporary Native literature. What is presented in this evocative poetry is not a 'struggle for dignity,' but a dignity for struggle."—Joy Harjo

Writing available online

* [http://www.hedgecoke.blogspot.com/ Allison Adelle Hedge Coke Off-Season] , Allison Hedge Coke's blog.
* [http://www.saltpublishing.com/books/ewk/1844712664.htm Memory] from "Salt Publishing".
* [http://www.xcp.bfn.org/coke1.html Street Confetti] from "Xcp: Streetnotes" Winter 2003.
* [http://www.xcp.bfn.org/coke2.html Eternity Safeway] from "Xcp: Streetnotes" Winter 2003.
* [http://www.xcp.bfn.org/coke3.html Clowns Crowned: in-RAGE] from "Xcp: Streetnotes" Winter 2003.
* [http://lightning.state.sd.us:8080/ramgen/audio/arts/201/aa2501.rm Writers Segment (2/5/01)] on "South Dakota Public Radio" [RealAudio]
* [http://lightning.state.sd.us:8080/ramgen/audio/arts/201/aa2601.rm Writers Segment (2/6/01)] on "South Dakota Public Radio" [RealAudio]
* [http://lightning.state.sd.us:8080/ramgen/audio/houseblend/hb2032.rm House Blend (9/17/00)] on "South Dakota Public Radio" [RealAudio]
* [http://lightning.state.sd.us:8080/ramgen/audio/houseblend/hb2026.rm House Blend (7/30/00)] on "South Dakota Public Radio" [RealAudio]
* [http://lightning.state.sd.us:8080/ramgen/audio/houseblend/hb2022.rm House Blend (7/2/00)] on "South Dakota Public Radio" [RealAudio]
* [http://radio.un.org/play.asp?NewsID=4541 James Thomas Stevens & Allison Hedge Coke] on "UN Radio" (RealAudio)

Internet Web Literary Publications/Broadsides/Brochures

* “Clan Sister,” “Esoterica,” and “Memory.” In O"regon Literary Review", Vol. 2, No.2. Fall 2007. [Poetry.]
* “America, I Sing Back,” “Memory,” “Skeletons,” “Ghosts,” and “The Mounds.” selected for broadside prints from the "3rd World Poetry Festival" in Venezuela. Caracus, Tucupita, and Maturin. 2006. [Poetry.]
* “Looters,” “River,” “The Dove,” and “Baggage.” in "Political Affairs Online Magazine". August 2006, March 2006, and the November/December 2005, Editions, 2005-2006. [Poetry.]
* “Street Confetti,” and "Off-Season City Pipe" (book volume), selected for inclusion for the Academy of American Poets National Poetry Month. 2005. [Poetry.]
* “Last Lunar Eclipse, 2004.” "E-verse", Milkweed Publications. 2005. [Poetry.]
* Dennison University, Ohio mounds series poems in the Earthworks festivities. (Brochure.) October 2005. [Poetry.]
* “Street Confetti,” Eternity Safeway” and “Clowns Crowned in-RAGE.” on "Xcp: Streetnotes" biannual on-line literary magazine. David Michalski, Editor. UC Davis. Davis, CA. Winter 2003. [Honored by a link from Art in the Public Interest.] [Poetry.]
* “Shapings,” “Gore,” and “Swarming.” with “civic duty as a private citizen statement” and "The Tanks Come Blasting," 2003, on "Poets Against the War", on & 2004 . Also on UK site of PAW. [Poetry.]
* “Ghost Deer.” "Libraries of South Dakota", David Allen Evans, SD Poet Laureate, Ed. Displayed in SD Libraries, including the State Library in Pierre, SD. 2003 (Broadside.) [Poetry.]
* Excerpts from "Dog Road Woman" on "Poetry of the 20th Century". 2002. [Poetry.]
* "Drunk Butterflies" and "Eternity Safeway." on "Native Realities" juried e-journal magazine. Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. Lee Francis IV, Editor. 2001. [Poetry.]

Awards

(2008) "Journal of the Year" in 2006-2007 is awarded to the guest editor, Allison Hedge Coke, by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers for the "To Topos International Journal of Poetry" "Ahani: Indigenous American Poetry" from Oregon State University.

(2008)Allison Hedge Coke has been named the "Writer of the Year in Poetry" in 2006-2007 by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers for her book "Blood Run" from Salt Publications.

Hedge Coke was named the Distinguished Paul and Clarice A. Reynolds Chair of English-Poetry & Writing-at the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 2007.

Allison Hedge Coke has been named the "Writer of the Year in Poetry" in 2005 by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers for her book "Off Season City Pipe" from Coffeehouse Press.

Hedge Coke was appointed a National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, in 2004.

Hedge Coke was presented the "Mayor's Award for Literary Excellence" in 2003 in Sioux Falls. She received a "South Dakota Arts Council Artist Fellowship", and an "Excellence in Teaching Award" from the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation in 2002.

Hedge Coke was named the "Mentor of the Year" in 2001 by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers for her work with incarcerated Native youth. She was a "Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship" finalist in 1999, and held a South Dakota State Arts Council, Individual Artist Project Grant in 1999. Hedge Coke was a "Macdowell Colony Resident Fellow" in Petersborough, New Hampshire, in fall 1996. She was a summer writing fellow at Naropa University in 1992 and 1993.

Hedge Coke's poetry volume "Dog Road Woman" received a 1998 "American Book Award" from the Before Columbus Foundation", was a finalist for the "1998 Patterson Prize", given by the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College (NJ) and was a finalist for the Native Writers Circle of the Americas"' "First Book Award in Poetry". She received nominations for the "Pushcart Prize" in both 1999 and 2000. She received an "Abiko Quarterly" editor's choice award in 1995.

Hedge Coke is also the winner of the "Doris Gregory Memorial Scholarship and Creative Writing Award" by the New Mexico Press Women's Association '93; the "Zora Neale Hurston Scholarship Award" '93; the "Creative Writing Departmental Award" (poetry; fiction; playwriting; non-fiction essay) by the Institute for American Indian Arts '93; the "Naropa Poetry Prize" by the Institute for American Indian Arts and "Red Elk Scholarship" by the Naropa Institute '92; and an Associate Residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts '92.

Books by Allison Hedge Coke or containing her work

*"Blood Run", Salt Publishing (poems) [free verse play] .
*"Off-Season City Pipe", Coffee House Press (poems). WCC Writer of the Year.
*"Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer", University of Nebraska Bison Books (memoir). AIROS Book of the Month.
** [http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/04/25/build/magazine/50-memoir.inc Billings Gazette review] , 4/25/04
*"Dog Road Woman : Poems", Coffee House Press. American Book Award.
*"Year Of The Rat", (Chapbook) Grimes Press.
*"From the Fields", Editor, California Poets in the Schools Press.
*"Ahani: Indigenous American Poetry, Editor, Oregon State University.
*"They Wanted Children", Editor, Sioux Falls School District Press.
*"Coming to Life", Editor, Sioux Falls School District Press.
*"It's Not Quiet Anymore: New Work from the Institute of American Indian Arts", Co-Senior Editor with Heather Ahtone, Institute of American Indian Arts Press.
*"Voices of Thunder: New Work from the Institute of American Indian Arts", Co-Editor with Heather Ahtone, Institute of American Indian Arts Press.

Anthologies

*"Looking at the Words of Our People : First Nations Analysis of Literature", Jeannette C. Armstrong (Editor), Theytus Books.
*"Gatherings - Vol. VI, 'Metamorphosis' Manifesting and Respecting Diversity in Our Transformation", Don Fiddler & Linda Jaine (Editors), Theytus Books.
*"Voices of Thunder", works included in this book were juried and selected by co-editors. Santa Fe, NM. Pg. 77-79. 1992. [Nonfiction.]
*"Skin Deep: Women Writing on Color, Culture and Identity", Elena Featherstone (Editor), Crossing Press.
*"Subliminal Time, O - Four", Leslie Scalapino (Editor), O Books.
*"Neon Pow-Wow: New Native American Voices of the Southwest", Anna Lee Walters (Editor), Northland Pub.
*It’s Not Quiet Anymore, works included in this book were juried and selected by co-editors. Santa Fe, NM. Pg. 155. 1993. [Nonfiction.]
*"Subliminal Time". Leslie Scalapino, Ed. O Books. Oakland, CA. Pg.35-44. 1993. [Poetry.]
*"Gatherings, Vol IV", Regeneration: Expanding the Web to Claim Our Future", Don Fiddler (Editor), Penticton: Theytus Books.
*"Gatherings - Vol. V", Celebrating the Circle: Recognizing Women and Children in Restoring the Balance", Beth Cuthand & William George (Editors), Theytus Books.. Pg. 202-204. 1994. [Nonfiction.]
*"Skin Deep: Women Writing on Color, Cultures, and Identity". Elena Featherston, Ed. The Crossing Press. Freedom, CA. Pg. 145-147. 1994. [Poetry.]
*"Tree in the Sky", San Francisco, California: California Poets in the Schools Press. San Francisco, CA. Pg. 93-94. 1995. [Poetry.]
*"Gatherings VII". Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm & Jeanette Armstrong, Ed. Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. Pg. 33-45. 1996. [Fiction.]
*"Listen to the Wild", California Poets in the Schools Press. San Francisco, CA. 1996. [Poetry.]
*"American Fiction" 8th Edition. Alan Davis, Ed. New Rivers Press. Morehead, MN. Pg. 142-148. 1996. [Fiction.]
*"Speaking for the Generations and the Land". Simon Ortiz, Ed. The University of Arizona Press. Tucson, AZ. Pg. 92-116. 1997. [Nonfiction.]
*"Reinventing the Enemy’s Language". Joy Harjo, Ed. University of Arizona Press. University of Arizona. Phoenix, AZ. Pg. 325-331. 1997. [Poetry.]
*"Visit Teepee Town". Diane Glancy and Mark Nowak, Ed. Coffee House Press. Minneapolis, MN. Pg. 155-187. 1999. [Poetry.]
*"Gatherings XII", En'owkin center/Theytus Books. Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. Pg. 198-200. 2001. [Nonfiction.]
*“Poets Against the War", Selected poems published hard copy from the website, The Nation Press Sam Hamill, Ed. Pg. 101. 2003. [Poetry.]
*“Prometeo: Memorias" XV Festival Internacional de Poesia de Medellin. Medellin, Colombia. Pg. 149-152. 2005. [Poetry.]
*"Washington & Lee New Medicines anthology". Deborah Miranda, Ed. Washington & Lee. Lexington, VA. 2005. [Poetry.]
*"To Topos International Journal" "Ahani: Indigenous American Poetry Anthology". Eric Dickey and Joseph Krause, Ed. Oregon State University. Corvallis, OR. December 2006/January 2007. [Poetry.]
*"French Connections: Poetry from the Franco-American Experience", Louisiana Literature Press. Christine Gelineau and Jack. B. Bedell, Ed. 2007. [Poetry.]
*"Wom-Po Anthology", Red Hen Press. 2008. [Poetry.]
*"Prometeo Memories, Prometo, Medellin, Colombia. 2008. [Poetry] "

Interviews or Autobiographical Essays

* [http://www.sdpb.org/Archives/ProgramDetail.asp?ProgID=6810] [Dakota Midday SDPR January 2008]
* [http://www.nativecalling.org/archives/2004/aug/08252004.ram AIROS August 2004 Book of the Month: "Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer"] [RealAudio]
* [http://lightning.state.sd.us:8080/ramgen/ful/media-images/sdfr1537_1598.rm Food for Thought Interview] (3/19/04) on "South Dakota Public Radio"
* [http://www.pw.org/mag/0405/wald.htm Writers Giving Back, Pass the Torch] , by Catherine Wald, "Poets and Writers" (May 2004)
* [http://www.quietmountainessays.org/Interview Quiet Mountain Essays] Interview with editor Suzanne Sunshower
*"Speaking for the Generations : Native Writers on Writing", Sun Tracks Vol. 35, University of Arizona Press.
*"French Connections", Christine Gelineau, editor.

Links

* [http://www.hedgecoke.blogspot.com/ Blog]
* [http://www.pen.org/MemberProfile.php/prmProfileID/29678 PEN Member Page]
* [http://www.unk.edu/acad/english/faculty/index.php?id=27130 UNK Faculty]
* [http://www.unk.edu/acad/english/index.php?id=18214 UNK Reynolds Chair]