Kinsale Drake Explained

Kinsale Drake
Birth Date:4 March 2000
Occupation:Writer
Nationality:Navajo Nation, American
Education:Yale College (BA)
Genre:Poetry, fiction
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Kinsale Drake ([1] born March 4, 2000) is an American poet, playwright, performer, and writer. Drake is Diné and a citizen of the Navajo Nation. In September 2023, Drake was one of five winners of the 2023 National Poetry Series for her debut poetry collection The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket.[2]

Early life and education

Drake was born in Los Angeles, California. She grew up between Los Angeles and Naatsisʼáán (English: Navajo Mountain), where her mother and maternal family are from.[3]

Drake attended Yale College, where she studied English and ethnicity, race, and migration and graduated with a BA degree from each of the two departments.[4] Their work "stud[ied] the intersections of cultural (re)vitalization movements, Indigenous poetics, and Indigenous feminisms."[5]

Drake has served as a guest faculty member at the Emerging Diné Writers Institute, held at Navajo Technical University.

Work

Writing

Drake's poetry often engages with her Navajo upbringing, family, and culture. She has called poetry "a way to explore her Navajo culture and her connection to her Indigenous roots," and has said her "grandmother has the biggest impact" on her work as a poet.[6]

Drake has received several awards for her writing. In 2017, she was selected as a National Student Poet representing the West as part of the National Student Poetry Program run by the Library of Congress.[7] While attending Yale, they received the Yale Young Native Storytellers Award for Spoken Word and Storytelling,[8] the Academy of American Poets College Prize, and the J. Edgar Meeker Award.[9] Her work has appeared in Poetry,[10] Best New Poets, Poets.org,[11] Poetry Northwest, The Slowdown, Black Warrior Review, The Adroit Journal,[4] Poetry Online, NPR, and MTV. In 2019, Time named her one of "34 People Changing How We See Our World",[12] and in 2021 Yahoo! named them an In the Know Changemaker.[13] She has been featured in Nylon,[14] Time,[15] and Indian Country Today.[16]

Drake is also a playwright, and was awarded Yale's Young Native Playwrights Award for her play titled As It Has Always Been.

Performance

Drake narrated the audiobook versions of Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe (2020) and A Snake Falls to Earth (2021). She has also worked as a narrator for two Rick Riordan Presents releases: Race to the Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (2020) and The Cursed Carnival & other Calamities (2021).

In June 2023, Drake performed poetry at Carnegie Hall in New York.[17]

Indigenous community

Drake is the founder of NDN Girls Book Club, a literary organization that "aims to amplify Indigenous authors, support tribal libraries and bookstores, and encourage reading and writing among Native youth."[18]

Personal life

A member of the Drake family of Navajo Mountain,[19] Drake would often visit her grandmother's farm there on the Utah-Arizona border. Her family comes from a traditional Navajo cultural background. Her maternal grandfather was Harold Drake Sr., a boarding school survivor who was taken from his family by police during a cultural dance and brought to Tuba City Boarding School.[20] Drake is related to the late Buck Navajo Sr., the last hataałii (English: [[medicine man]]) of Navajo Mountain.[21]

Drake uses she/they pronouns.[22]

Influences

Drake has named Louise Erdrich and Leslie Marmon Silko as influential figures at the start of her career.[23]

Awards and recognition

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kinsale Drake on spotlighting Native American writers. YouTube. October 4, 2023.
  2. Web site: Announcing the Winners of the 2023 National Poetry Series Competition. National Poetry Series. September 8, 2023 . October 4, 2023.
  3. Web site: PoetrySnaps! Kinsale Drake: Put on that KTNN. KNAU. April 21, 2023 . October 7, 2023.
  4. Web site: Sound of Under-Water. The Adroit Journal. January 7, 2023 . October 4, 2023.
  5. Web site: Listening To Native Voices: 15 Native Authors To Read This Year. Cowboys & Indians. November 30, 2022 . October 5, 2023.
  6. Web site: Kinsale Hueston '22 B.A. uses poetry to explore her Native identity. YaleNews. March 25, 2019 . October 7, 2023.
  7. Web site: 2017 Class of National Student Poets Announced. Scholastic Corporation. October 7, 2023.
  8. Web site: Kinsale Hueston. First Peoples Fund. October 7, 2023.
  9. Web site: Kinsale Drake. Poetry Foundation. October 7, 2023.
  10. Web site: Kinsale Drake. Poetry Foundation. October 5, 2023.
  11. Web site: 2022 Sean T. Lannan Poetry Prize. Poets.org. October 5, 2023.
  12. The Art of Optimism. Time. October 7, 2023.
  13. Web site: In the Know Honors: Kinsale Hueston. IN THE KNOW by yahoo!. November 8, 2021 . October 7, 2023.
  14. Web site: Kinsale Hueston Talks Activism, Poetry, and What it means to be a Diné Woman. NYLON. August 12, 2019 . October 5, 2023.
  15. How Artists of All Ages Keep Their Creative Spirit Alive. Time. February 7, 2019 . October 5, 2023.
  16. Web site: NDN Girls Book Club promotes Indigenous literature, empowers Native girls. ICT News. April 18, 2023 . October 5, 2023.
  17. News: NEXT: Kinsale Drake, Founder, NDN Girls Book Club. The Washington Post. October 7, 2023.
  18. Web site: The NDN Girls Book Club: How Kinsale Drake Is Promoting Indigenous Writers. Teen Vogue. February 27, 2023 . October 4, 2023.
  19. Web site: A poet, inspired by her Utah childhood, starts a book club for Indigenous girls. The Salt Lake Tribune. October 7, 2023.
  20. Web site: Harold Drake, Sr.. Utah History to Go. June 20, 2002 . October 7, 2023.
  21. Web site: 'I need to get on that horse': Last Naatsis'áán hataałii passes on. Navajo Times. December 2022 . October 7, 2023.
  22. Web site: Joys of Queerness and the Word: An Indigiqueer Reading. PEN America. June 17, 2022 . October 7, 2023.
  23. Web site: Conversations with Kinsale Drake. VoyageLA. July 18, 2022 . October 7, 2023.
  24. Web site: Kinsale Drake. Teen Vogue. October 7, 2023.
  25. Web site: Award Winners. Cutthroat Magazine. October 7, 2023.
  26. Web site: Celebrating and Supporting Indigenous Poetry. Library of Congress. April 20, 2022 . October 7, 2023.
  27. Web site: Announcing the 2023 Emerging Writer Fellows. Aspen Words. October 7, 2023.
  28. Web site: 2023-10-14 . The Adroit Prizes for Poetry & Prose - The Adroit Journal . 2024-08-07 . en-US.