Montana’s Poet Laureate Chris La Tray returns to the library on Friday, August 23 from 7 to 8 pm to give a talk in Library Park about his new book Becoming Little Shell: Returning Home to the Landless Indians of Montana. Cassiopeia Books will be on hand, as well, to sell copies of the title.
La Tray’s new book tells the story of his journey of finding his native roots, “(by) combining diligent research with a growing number of encounters with Indigenous authors, activists, elders, and historians, he slowly pieces together his family history, and eventually seeks enrollment with the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians,” it states in the book’s press packet.
La Tray approaches the practice of poetry the same as he does the spiritual life of an Anishinaabe person: which is to say, if one lives an Anishinaabe life, with particular attention to the seven guiding principles of the Seven Grandfather teachings – Humility, Courage, Honesty, Wisdom, Truth, Respect, and Love – then every footstep becomes a prayer.
La Tray lives in Missoula. He is a member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana and also identifies as Métis. His first full-length book, ‘One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays From the World At Large’ won the 2018 Montana Book Award and a 2019 High Plains Book Award. He also published ‘Descended From a Travel-worn Satchel,’ a book of haiku and haibun poetry, in 2021. Haibun poetry is a traditional form of Japanese poetry that combines prose and haiku. La Tray last spoke at GFPL in March as part of the Library’s Winter Speaker Series.
Growing up in Frenchtown, Mont., La Tray’s grandparents identified as Chippewa but his father denied the family’s Native American ancestry. His Métis great-great-grandfather worked an interpreter for the US Army, as he knew multiple languages, including French, English, Cree, Chippewa (Ojibwe), Dakota, and Crow (Apsalooke).
He also keeps a bi-weekly Substack newsletter called, “An Irritable Métis.” Prior to publishing full-length books, La Tray published numerous freelance nonfiction and short fiction pieces as well as photography, and was a regular contributing writer for the now-defunct Missoula Independent.
If you are attending Friday’s talk, please bring a chair and/or a blanket, as well. If there is bad weather, the event will be moved inside to the Cordingley Room.
For more information, contact Jake Sorich at jsorich@greatfallslibrary.org or
406-453-0349 ex. 220.
Author: Staff
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