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Stjukshon: An Indigenous Reading Series
w/Alex Beeshligaii, Ian Ellasante, & Andrea Hernandez Holm

Friday, November 21
7 p.m.
$5 Suggested Donation

The word “Stjukshon” is one of the ways that the Northern Piman term for Tucson can be written. It translates to “Spring at the foot of a black mountain.” Curated by Blackfeet tribal member, Bill Wetzel, Stjukshon is a reading series that seeks to celebrate the work of indigenous writers and artists working in a variety of creative mediums.

Join us for a night of stories, literature and, art featuring jeweler Alex Beeshligaii, poet Ian Ellasante, and poet and prose writer, Andrea Hernandez Holm. Materials from the artists will be available for purchase and signing after the event. Refreshments will be served.

Alex Beeshligaii is Dineh from NE Arizona. Born in Ganado and rised in Klagetoh, Arizona. He is born to Hanaghanii/Nihoobaanii Dine and born for Tsinaajinii Dine. Prior to be being an artist he worked in the field of education in the state of Alaska. He came back to Arizona during the early 90s to attend the U of A. He also worked at Catalina High and Palo Verde High for a few years, as well as TNT on a few movies casting extras. Later he lived in Belgium teaching/lecturing on Navajo culture. Upon returning to the U.S. he worked on a documentary on the Navajo-Hopi Peabody coal issues, where he interviewed elders who were affected by the removal and forced relocation. He now works in jewelry mainly mosiac inlay, using semi-precious stones set in silver or gold.

 

Ian Ellasante is a Two-Spirit poet and artist of African and Choctaw descent. Ian developed and recently taught the workshops “Writing the Threshold: Poetry in Transitional Spaces” at Casa Libre and “Queering Liminality: The Uncommon Beauty and Creative Potential of Middle Spaces” at the Trans and Genderqueer Poetry Symposium. He received the Native Writer Award in Poetry at the 2011 Taos Summer Writers’ Conference, was featured on KXCI’s A Poet’s Moment in 2013, and has had poems published in Currency, Evening Will Come, The Feminist Wire, Hinchas de Poesía, the video poetry series Speech Acts, and Jupiter 88, a video journal of contemporary poetry. Originally from Memphis, Ian has made Tucson his home since 2007.

 

Andrea Hernandez Holm was born and raised in the desert of central Arizona, she is a writer of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. She is a keeper of stories and a teller of stories, most of her writing focusing on the exploration of identity. She lives in Tucson with her husband and sons, and is blessed to be near family and friends. Her works have appeared in Generations Literary Journal, La Bloga, The Blue Guitar, La Sagrada, Tribal Fires, Red Ink, and the Cuentos del Barrio II art exhibition of the Tucson/Pima Arts Council. Her poem “Not Enough-Too Much” was featured in the “Best of 2012” edition of La Bloga. Her poetry, fiction, and non-fiction essays have appeared in the anthology, Yellow Medicine Review, Wisdom of our Mothers, and Our Spirits, Our Realities. She has served as editor of Red Ink and as a board member of ArtsReach Board of Directors.