Storytelling Across Genre: On Being an Anishinaabe Poet in a Fiction Writer’s World

The author describes how Indigenous writers like N.

Scott Momaday, Louise Erdrich, Leslie Silko, Joy Harjo, and Gerald Vizenor often create works across multiple genres, blending creative nonfiction, novels, poetry, visual arts, and music.

For example, Joy Harjo began as a visual artist and later became known as both a musician and poet.

This cross-genre approach is a long-standing tradition in Indigenous storytelling, where artists frequently move fluidly between different art forms.

The author herself followed this tradition, starting with journalism, then writing scholarship on Native American literature, creating plays, and publishing six books of poetry before turning to fiction.

This background shaped her unique approach to storytelling, which integrates techniques from poetry into other genres.