W&L’s Glasgow Series Presents Lois Beardslee, Native American Writer and Artist
Lois Beardslee, an Ojibwe writer and artist, will give a reading and slide show of her artwork on Thursday, Nov. 6, at 4 p.m. in Payne Hall, Room 21, at Washington and Lee University. This event is open to the public.
A book signing and a sale of Beardslee’s books and some of her artwork will be held after the reading in Payne Hall, Room 26.
A lifetime spent in more than one Native American culture and tradition at the same time-(her mother was Ojibwe and her father was Lacandon) has led Beardslee to write about the ways in which traditional and modern lifestyles conflict and merge for contemporary Native people. She grew up in northern Michigan and northern Ontario, dividing her time between her extended family’s farms and remote bush camps.
Beardslee writes both fiction and nonfiction and contributes scholarly writings in the field of multicultural education and literature. She is the author of “Rachel’s Children: Stories from a Contemporary Native American Woman” (Alta Mira Press, 2004); “Not Far Away: The Real-life Adventures of Ima Pipiig” (Alta Mira Press, 2007); and “The Women Warrior’s Society” (University of Arizona Press, 2008), among others.
She also is a contributor to “A Broken Flute: the Native Experience in Books for Children,” winner of a 2006 American Book Award.
Beardslee has been an artist for much of her life. She has done painting, illustrating and creating rare traditional Ojibwe art forms, including porcupine quillwork, sweetgrass baskets and birch bark cut-outs and bitings. Her work is in public and private collections worldwide. She continues to divide her time between the family farm and remote bush camps.
Currently an adjunct instructor in communications at Northwestern Michigan College, Beardslee has a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and a master’s degree from the University of New Mexico.
The Beardslee reading is part of W&L’s Glasgow Reading Series.
