Native American Authors

Simon J. Ortiz , 1941-

Acoma Pueblo

Simon Ortiz was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and raised in the Acoma village of McCarty’s in an Acoma-speaking family. Ortiz attended Fort Lewis College (1962-63), the University of New Mexico (1966-68), and the University of Iowa (1968-69). His career includes teaching at San Diego State, the Institute of American Indian Arts, Navajo Community College, the College of Marin, the University of New Mexico, and the Sinte GleskaCollege. Ortiz also served as lieutenant governor of the Pueblo of Acoma and consulting editor of the Pueblo of Acoma Press. He is currently a faculty member at the University of Toronto.

Awards and Honors

Wordcraft Circle Writer of the Year (Anthology/Collection) Award, 2000 (for Speaking for Generations)

Online resources by or about Simon J. Ortiz:

Canyon de Chelly by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/cdc/cdc1.html
Counterbalance Poetry: Simon J. Ortiz
Author: Counterbalance Poetry
Type: authorbio
Description: A collection of video and audio files of Ortiz reading his poems.
URL:
A Designated National Park by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/natpark.html
Final Solution: Jobs, Leaving by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/solution.html
The First Hard Core by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/hardcore.html
For Nanao by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/cdc/cdc2.html
Grants to Gallup, New Mexico by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/I40_1.html
Horizons and Rains by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone and Going for the Rain.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/I40_2.html
Indians Sure Came in Handy by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone and Going for the Rain.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/handy.html
It Was That Indian by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/martinez.html
It Was That Indian by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/martinez.html
Long House Valley Poem by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone. Includes sound file.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/motherearth/motherearth3.html
Many Farms Notes by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/manyfarms.html
Men on the Moon
Author: The University of Arizona Press
Type: etext
Description: Information about Men on the Moon from The University of Arizona Press, including a link to an excerpt from the book, the story Feeling Old.
URL: http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/books/bid1264.htm
My Mother and My Sisters by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/pinon.html
On Ortiz, Threading the Americas
Author: Canku Ota
Type: authorbio
Description: An article about Simon Ortiz from the 6/16/01 issue of Canku Ota – A Newsletter Celebrating Native America.
URL:
Out to Tsaile Lake by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/tsaile.html
Simon Ortiz: Native American Poet
Author: American Poetry 3342 students, University of Texas at Arlington
Type: authorbio
Description: This site about Ortiz includes links to a short biography, a primary bibliography, and a secondary bibliography.
URL: http://www.uta.edu/english/tim/poetry/so/ortizmain.htm
Something Wicked This Way Comes: Warnings by Simon Ortiz and Martin Cruz Smith
Author: Gregg Graber
Type: authorbio
Description: A critical essay from wicazo sa review: A Journal of Native American Studies 15.2 (2000) 17-25.
URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/wicazo_sa_review/15.2graber_g.html
Speaking for the Generations
Author: The University of Arizona Press
Type: etext
Description: Information about Speaking for the Generations from The University of Arizona Press, including a link to the Introduction, which was written by Ortiz.
URL: http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/books/BID1156.htm
Starting at the Bottom by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/bottom.html
The State’s Claim That It Seeks in No Way to Deprive by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/thestatesclaim.html
A Story of How a Wall Stands by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/wall.html
Time to Kill in Gallup by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/bordertowns/bordertowns3.html
To Change in a Good Way by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/goodway.html
What I Mean by Simon Ortiz
Author: Karen Strom
Type: etext
Description: Full text of the poem by Simon J. Ortiz from Woven Stone.
URL: http://www.hanksville.org/voyage/poems/agee.html

Books by Simon J. Ortiz:

Ortiz, Simon J.. After and Before the Lightning
Tucson, AZ : University of Arizona Press, 1994.
Genre: Poetry
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0-8165-1448-8

Ortiz, Simon J.. Blue and Red
Pueblo of Acoma Press, 1982.
Audience: Youth

Ortiz, Simon J.. A Ceremony of brotherhood, 1680-1980
Albuquerque, N.M. : Academia, 1981.
Genre: Fiction
Language: English and Spanish
Audience: Adult

Ortiz, Simon J.. Earth power coming : short fiction in native American literature
Tsaile, Ariz. : Navajo Community College Press, 1983.
Genre: Short Stories
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0912586508

Ortiz, Simon J.. Fight Back: For the Sake of the People, for the Sake of the Land
Albuquerque, NM : Institute for Native American Development, University of New Mexico, 1980.
Genre: Poetry and prose
Audience: Adult

Ortiz, Simon J.. Fightin’ : new and collected stories
Chicago : Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1983.
Genre: Short Stories
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0938410156

Ortiz, Simon J.. From Sand Creek : rising in this heart which is our America
New York : Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1981.
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0938410032

Ortiz, Simon J.. Going for the rain : poems
New York : Harper & Row, 1976.
Genre: Poetry
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0064515117

Ortiz, Simon J.. A good journey
Tucson, Ariz. : University of Arizona Press, 1984.
Genre: Poetry
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0816508836

Ortiz, Simon J.. Howbah Indians
Blue Moon, 1978.
Genre: Short Stories

Ortiz, Simon J.. The Importance of Childhood
Pueblo of Acoma Press, 1982.

Ortiz, Simon J.. Men on the moon : collected short stories
Tucson : University of Arizona Press, 1999.
Genre: Short Stories
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0816519293

Ortiz, Simon J.. Naked in the Wind
Pembroke, N.C : Quetzal-Vihio Press, 1971.
Genre: Poetry
Audience: Adult

Ortiz, Simon J.. The People Shall Continue
San Francisco : Children’s Book Press, 1988.
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: All Ages
ISBN: 0892390417

Ortiz, Simon J.. A Poem is a Journey
Bourbonnais, IL : Pternandon Press, 1981.

Ortiz, Simon J.. Questions and swords : folktales of the Zapatista revolution
El Paso, Tex. : Cinco Puntos Press, 2001.
Genre: Folklore
Language: English and Spanish
ISBN: 0938317539

Ortiz, Simon J.. Song, Poetry, Language
Navajo Community College Press, 1978.
Genre: Essays
Audience: Adult

Ortiz, Simon J.. Speaking for the generations : native writers on writing
Tucson : University of Arizona Press, 1998.
Genre: Essays
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0816518491

Ortiz, Simon J.. Traditional and Hard-to-find Information Required by Members of American Indian Communities
Office of Library and Information Services, 1978.
Genre: Nonfiction

Ortiz, Simon J.. Woven stone
Tucson : University of Arizona Press, 1992.
Genre: Poetry
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0816512949