Marilou Awiakta (born January 24, 1936 in Knoxville, Tennessee) is an American writer known for her poetry and essays about her experiences growing up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Biography and career
Marilou Awiakta is the seventh generation of her family to grow up in Appalachia, mostly in East Tennessee. Since 1730, her family has lived in the mountainous area of the state. She writes that she is of Scotch-Irish, Appalachian, and Eastern Band Cherokee descent. She self-identifies as Eastern Cherokee, but Awiakta is not a citizen of the Eastern Cherokee Tribe.
Awiakta graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1958 receiving a B.A. magna cum laude, in both English and French.
Awards
Distinguished Tennessee Writer Award, 1989
Appalachian Heritage Writer's Award, Shepherd College, 2000
Books
Abiding Appalachia: Where Mountain and Atom Meet. Memphis: Saint Luke's Press, 1978. Rpt. Bell Buckle, TN: Iris Press, 1995. 71 pp. Rp. 2006 Pocahontas Press, 65 pp. Rising Fawn and the Fire Mystery: A Child's Christmas in Memphis, 1833. Memphis: Saint Luke's Press, 1983. Selu: Seeking the Corn-Mother's Wisdom. Golden, CO: Fulcrum, 1993. A blend of story, essay, and poetry.
Analysis
Awiakta's poetry is analysed at length in Our Fire Survives the Storm by Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee Nation).