Born to a Lebanese American father and a Laguna Pueblo-Sioux mother in Albuquerque in 1939, Paula Gunn Allen was an American writer whose poems, scholarly work, and novels explored the intersectionality of feminism, sexuality, and Native American heritage. She earned a BA in English and an MFA in writing at the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico. Paula Gunn Allen was one of the leading voices in Native American literature and the contemporary women’s spirituality movement. In addition to writing, she taught English, Creative Writing, and American Indian Studies at the University of California. She died in 2008 at the age of 68.
Books:
Blind Lion, Berkeley: Thorp Springs Press, 1974.
Coyote’s Daylight Trip, Albuquerque: La Confluencia, 1978.
A Cannon Between my Knees, New York: Strawberry Press, 1981.
Star Child, Marvin: Blue Cloud Quarterly, 1981.
Studies in American Indian Literature: Critical Essays and Course Designs, New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1983.
Shadow Country, Los Angeles: University of California, 1984.
The Woman Who Owned the Shadows, San Francisco: Spinsters, Ink., 1984.
The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions, Boston: Beacon Press, 1986.
Wyrds, Taurean Horn Press, 1987.
Skins and Bones, New York: West End Press, 1988.
Spider Woman’s Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women, Boston: Beacon Press, 1989.
Grandmothers of the Light: A Medicine Woman’s Sourcebook, Boston: Beacon Press, 1991.
Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature, New York: Ballantine Books, 1994.
As Long as the Rivers Flow: The Stories of Nine Native Americans, New York: Scholastic, 1996.
Song of the Turtle: American Indian Literature, 1974-1994, New York: Ballantine Books, 1996.
Life is a Fatal Disease: Selected Poems, 1962-1995, New York: West End Press, 1997.
Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Bustin, Border-Crossing Loose Canons, Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.
Hozho – Walking in Beauty: Native American Stories of Inspiration, Humor, and Life, Los Angeles: Lowell House, 2001.
Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat, San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003.
America the Beautiful: Last Poems, New York: West End Press, 2010
Articles:
“Judy Grahn: Gathering of the Tribe.” Contact II 5, no. 27/28/29 (1983).
“Kochinnenako in Academe: Three Approaches to Interpreting a Keres Indian Tale” in Feminisms, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1991.
"Quièn Es Que Anda?" Chicago Review 39, no. 3/4 (1993): 24-26. doi:10.2307/25305710.
“Where I Come From is Like This.” Feminist Frontiers, no. 3 (1993).
“‘Border’ Studies: The Intersection of Gender and Color.” The Ethnic Canon, (1995).
“Burned Alive in the Blues.” Reckonings Oxford, (2008): 3-16.
Paula Gunn Allen's Work in Anthologies, Encyclopedias, and Journals:
“Lament of my Father, Lakota” in Voices from Wah `Kon-Tah: Contemporary Poetry of Native Americans, edited by Robert K. Dodge and Joseph B. McCullough, New York: International Publishers, 1974.
"Two Poems." Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 6, no. 3 (1981): 62-63. doi:10.2307/3346217.
“Tough Love” in Earth Power Coming: Short Fiction in Native American Literature, edited by Simon J. Ortiz, Tsaile: Navajo Community College Press, 1983.
“Angry Women are Building: Issues and Struggles Facing Native American Women” in All American Women: Lines that Divide, Ties that Bind, New York: Free Press, 1986.
"The Warrior." Feminist Studies 14, no. 3 (1988): 428-29. doi:10.2307/3178052.
“Grandmother of the Sun” in Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality, edited by Judith Plaskow and Carol P. Christ, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989.
“Deer Woman” in Talking Leaves: Contemporary Native American Short Stories, edited by Craig Lesley and Katheryn Stavrakis, New York: Laurel, 1991.
“They Make Their Climb” in Women’s Friendships: A Collection of Short Stories, edited by Susan Koppelman, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
"Glastonbury Experience." Religion & Literature 26, no. 1 (1994): 81-87.
“Who is Your Mother?: Red Roots of White Feminism” in From Different Shores: Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity in America, edited by Ronald T. Takaki, New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
"Essentially, It's Spring." Studies in American Indian Literatures 7, no. 4 (1995): 87.
“The Sacred Hoop: A Contemporary Perspective” in The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology, edited by Teresa Shewry, Cheryll Glotfelty, and Harold Fromm, Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1996.
“Going Home, December 1992” in Reinventing the Enemy’s Language: Contemporary Native Women’s Writing of North America, edited by Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1997.
“Sacred Shoes; Kopis’taya (A Gathering of Spirits)” in The Serpent’s Tongue: Prose, Poetry, and Art of the New Mexico Pueblos, edited by Nancy C. Wood, New York: Dutton Books, 1997.
“Rant for Old Teachers” in Wise Women: Reflections of Teachers at Midlife, edited by Phyllis R. Freeman and Jan Zlotnik Schmidt, New York: Routledge, 2000.
“Special Problems in Teaching Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony” in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony: A Casebook, edited by Allan Richard Chavkin, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
“The Savages in the Mirror: Phantoms and Fantasies in America” in Eating Fire, Tasting Blood: Breaking the Great Silence of the American Indian Holocaust, edited by MariJo Moore, New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2006.
“Grandmother” in The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry, edited by Rita Dove, New York: Penguin Books, 2011.
Critical Work about Paula Gunn Allen:
Jahner, Elaine. "Climbing a Sacred Ladder: Technique in the Poetry of Paula Gunn Allen." Studies in American Indian Literatures 7, no. 3 (1983): 76-80.
Ruppert, Jim. "Paula Gunn Allen and Joy Harjo: Closing the Distance between Personal and Mythic Space." American Indian Quarterly 7, no. 1 (1983): 27-40. doi:10.2307/1183880.
Mills, Ralph J. "Paula Gunn Allen's New Poems." Studies in American Indian Literatures 10, no. 1 (1986): 63-67.
TallMountain, Mary. "Paula Gunn Allen's ‘The One Who Skins Cats’: An Inquiry into Spiritedness." Studies in American Indian Literatures 5, no. 2 (1993): 34-38.
Babb, Genie. "Paula Gunn Allen's Grandmothers: Toward a Responsive Feminist-Tribal Reading of "Two Old Women"" American Indian Quarterly 21, no. 2 (1997): 299-320. doi:10.2307/1185649.
Lupack, Barbara Tepa. American Literature 69, no. 2 (1997): 428-29. doi:10.2307/2928287
Prince-Hughes, Tara. "Contemporary Two-Spirit Identity in the Fiction of Paula Gunn Allen and Beth Brant." Studies in American Indian Literatures 10, no. 4 (1998): 9-32.
Toohey, Michelle Campbell. "Paula Gunn Allen's Grandmothers of the Light: Falling through the Void." Studies in American Indian Literatures 12, no. 3 (2000): 35-51.
Van Dyke, Annette. "A Tribute to Paula Gunn Allen (1939-2008)." Studies in American Indian Literatures, Series 2, 20, no. 4 (2008): 68-75.
Book Reviews:
Jahner, Elaine. “Shadow Country by Paula Gunn Allen.” American Indian Quarterly 7, no. 1 (1983): 84-86. doi:10.2307/1183883.
Ruoff, A. LaVonne Brown. “The Woman Who Owned Shadows: The Autobiography of Ephanie Atencio by Paula Gunn Allen.” Studies in American Indian Literatures 7, no. 3 (1983): 65-69.
Cliff, Michelle. "Journey of the Spirit." The Women's Review of Books 1, no. 6 (1984): 8. doi:10.2307/4019411.
Schoeler, Bo. “The Woman Who Owned the Shadows by Paula Gunn Allen.” Studies in American Indian Literatures 9, no. 4 (1985): 143-147.
Berner, Robert L. “Spider Woman’s Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women by Paula Gunn Allen.” World Literature Today 64, no. 2 (1990): 344-45. doi:10.2307/40146565.
Milspaw, Yvonne J. “The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by Paula Gunn Allen.” The Journal of American Folklore 103, no. 408 (1990): 245-47. doi:10.2307/541875.
Hans, Birgit. “Paula Gunn Allen. Western Writers Series, Number 96” Studies in American Indian Literatures 3, no. 3 (1991): 86-88.
Van Dyke, Annette. “Grandmothers of the Light: A Medicine Woman’s Sourcebook by Paula Gunn Allen.” NWSA Journal 4, no. 2 (1992): 259-60.
Berner, Robert L. “Life is a Fatal Disease: Collected Poems 1962-1995 by Paula Gunn Allen.” World Literature Today 71, no. 3 (1997): 631. doi:10.2307/40152971.
Interviews:
Cliff, Michelle, Tacie Dejanikus, and Loie Hayes. "Interview: Claiming an Identity: An Interview with Michelle Cliff." off our backs 11, no. 6 (1981): 18-20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25793758.
Ballinger, Franchot, Brian Swann, and Paul Gunn Allen. "A MELUS Interview: Paula Gunn Allen." MELUS 10, no. 2 (1983): 3-25. doi:10.2307/467306.
Purdy, John, and Paula Gunn Allen. ""And Then, Twenty Years Later…": A Conversation with Paula Gunn Allen." Studies in American Indian Literatures 9, no. 3 (1997): 5-16.
Braxton, Joanne M., and Paula Gunn Allen. "Pocahontas' Voice: A Conversation with Paula Gunn Allen." The Women's Review of Books 21, no. 8 (2004): 13. doi:10.2307/4024389.
Awards:
Hubbell Medal for Lifetime Achievement in American Literary Studies – Modern Language Association
Lifetime Achievement Award – Popular and American Culture Associations
Native American Prize for Literature
Lannan Foundation Fellowship
Carolyn Dunn on Paula Gunn Allen: https://www.rigorous-mag.com/v1i4/carolyn-dunn-rain-prudhomme-cranford.html
Bibliography compiled by Zane DeZeeuw, May 2017