Ernestine Hayes Explained

Ernestine Saankaláxt Hayes
Birth Place:Juneau, Alaska
Known For:Author of Blonde Indian and Tao of Raven
Honours:Alaska State Writer Laureate

Ernestine Saankaláxt Hayes (born 1945) is a Tlingit author and an Emerita professor at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau, Alaska.[1] She belongs to the Wolf House of the Kaagwaaataan clan of the Eagle side of the Tlingit Nation.[2] Hayes is a memoirist, essayist, and poet.[3] She served as Alaska State Writer Laureate 2017–2018.[4]

Hayes was born in Juneau at the end of the Second World War when Alaska was still a territory. For the first several years of her life, Hayes lived with her grandmother in the Juneau Indian Village while her mother was in and out of hospitals for tuberculosis. At the age of fifteen, Hayes and her mother moved to California, where Hayes lived for twenty-five years.[5]

Career

Hayes returned to Alaska twenty-five years later, in 1985, where Hayes graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alaska Southeast. In 2003, she graduated from University of Alaska Anchorage with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing and Literary Arts. Almost immediately after earning her MFA, she began teaching at the University of Alaska Southeast, while also serving as associated faculty for the University of Alaska Anchorage's low-residence MFA program.[6] Hayes actively promotes Native rights and culture, and works with efforts to decolonize the institution.[7] For just over a year, she wrote a column, "Edge of the Village," for the Juneau Empire. As State Writer Laureate, from 2016 to 2018, Hayes visited many small communities of Alaska, like Seward and Seldovia, where she held two-day creative writing workshops. Hayes is working on a her third Alaska Native Memoir.[8]

Reviews

Blonde Indian

Blonde Indian, a memoir of Hayes's childhood in Southeast Alaska, is written with traditional Tlingit stories, fictional character, and historic moments. Because of Hayes' fair hair, her grandmother sang out to her "Blonde Indian, blonde Indian" as Hayes danced along. The fictional tale of “Tom,” coincides with an experience similar to Hayes, an Alaska Native child who is separated from their traditional lifestyle and heritage.[9] In Blonde Indian, Hayes elaborates on her experiences in Western society, narrating her lived experience and traditional stories to honor her Tlingit ancestors and tradition, while shedding light on the impact of colonization on indigenous children and families. Blonde Indian has received much critical acclaim. It was awarded the American Book Award in 2007.[10]

The Tao of Raven

A continuation of her work in Blonde Indian, The Tao of Raven: an Alaskan Native Memoir weaves together traditional Alaskan Native storytelling and life lessons, with personal memories from Hayes, and legends of the Raven, and the Spider. Thematically, the book centers around redefining the meaning of “treasure,” a word that Hayes explained as the time we’ve spent on the earth, rather than any material commodity.[11]

Awards

Works

Anthologies

Essays

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: University of Alaska Southeast. 2021-04-11.
  2. Web site: The Artist: Ernestine Hayes. 2021-04-14. KTOO. en-US.
  3. Web site: Ernestine Hayes on Native American Authors . 2009-10-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205601/http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A604 . 2016-03-03 . dead .
  4. Web site: 2016-12-23. Ernestine Hayes named 2017 State Writer Laureate. 2021-04-14. Anchorage Daily News. en-US.
  5. Gercken. Becca. 2009. Review of Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir.. Studies in American Indian Literatures. 21 . 2, 2009. 78–81. 10.1353/ail.0.0073. 161465125. Project MUSE.
  6. Web site: Ernestine Hayes | University of Alaska Southeast . 2009-10-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110526061106/http://www.uas.alaska.edu/whalesong/stories/Ernestine%20Hayes.html . 2011-05-26 . dead .
  7. Book: The Praeger Handbook on Contemporary Issues in Native America: Linguistic, ethnic, and economic revival. Bruce Elliott Johansen. Greenwood Publishing Group. 2007. 978-0-275-99139-5 .
  8. Web site: Hohenstatt. Ben. 2019-03-16. Hayes Tenure as Alaska State Writer Laureate Closes. AP NEWS.
  9. News: Lamb. Jonas. November 4, 2015. Book Review; Ernestine Hayes "Blonde Indian". 2021-04-04. Juneau Empire.
  10. Web site: 2007-12-02. 27th Annual American Book Awards Ceremony. 2021-04-14. C-Span.
  11. Web site: 2016-11-02. The Tao of Raven: Hayes' new book explores the wisdom of traditional stories. Mary Catharine Martin . 2021-04-14. Juneau Empire. en-US . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231120045505/https://www.juneauempire.com/life/the-tao-of-raven-hayes-new-book-explores-the-wisdom-of-traditional-stories/ . Nov 20, 2023 .
  12. Web site: Rasmuson Foundation . Distinguished Artist 2021. Maria Shaa Tláa Williams . deviated . https://web.archive.org/web/20230331061341/https://www.rasmuson.org/arts/individual-artist-awards/distinguished-artists/#2021 . Mar 31, 2023 .
  13. Web site: Ernestine Hayes awarded City Museum's Marie Darlin Prize . City and Borough of Juneau . September 16, 2021 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230425235447/https://juneau.org/newsroom-item/ernestine-hayes-awarded-the-marie-darlin-prize . Apr 25, 2023 .
  14. Web site: 2023 Fellows Announcement . United States Artists. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230604131451/https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/2023-fellows/ . Jun 4, 2023 .

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