This isn’t much notice, but “Returning the Gift” headliners Joy Harjo and Joseph Bruchac will give a public reading at 7 p.m. Wednesday (tonight!) at Woodland Pattern Book Center, 720 E. Locust St.
Harjo, a leading poet and musician, will read from her new memoir Crazy Brave. Bruchac is renowned for preserving and extending Native traditions through books, storytelling and music for both children and adults.
Both writers were part of the first “Returning the Gift” conference. Admission is $8, $7 for students and seniors, $6 for Woodland Pattern members.
Most conference events Wednesday and Thursday will take place at UWM’s Hefter Conference Center, 3271 N. Lake Drive. The conference will feature panel discussions on writing from nature, indigenous languages in contemporary writing, working with Native youth through writing, and practical business-of-writing stuff. Conference co-director Jim Stevens, editor of the Yukhika-latuhse journal, will chair the panel “Music, Resistance, & Story: A Cornucopia of Wisconsin Writing” at 3:15 p.m. Thursday.
Details about the rest of the conference here: http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/arts/american-indian-writers-conference-in-milwaukee-this-week-g36mvih-168410346.html