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Host: Colter Nuanez:
The James Welch Native Lit Festival returns to Missoula July 16 through the 18th.
The festival features prominent Indigenous writers, including Arthur Z., the long time Director of Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
This year's festival highlights Native poetry in recognition of James Welch's first publication, Riding the Earthboy 40, his only work of poetry.
The festival will offer free panels on poetry, reading, and writing workshops. Events on July 16 and 18 will take place at the Missoula Children's Theatre (MCT), while July 17 events will be hosted by the Missoula Art Museum (MAM).
For more information, visit JamesWelchFestival.org.
Colter Nuanez:
We're very excited about this. It's a cool event that's coming back to Missoula this week—the James Welch Native Literary Festival. It's happening at a variety of locations, and we'll get into the who, what, when, and where.
If you're unfamiliar with James Welch, he's one of the greatest writers ever to come out of the state of Montana, certainly one of the most influential Native American voices in literature and the inspiration behind this festival.
We're joined now by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, who is part of the festival and is here to tell us more about it.
Sterling, we appreciate you being here. How's it going?
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain:
Man, thanks for having me on. I'm looking forward to talking with you.
Colter Nuanez:
First of all, tell us about the origin of this festival. It's been around for a little while now, and it's a really cool event. It's an extension of work being done through Humanities Montana and several other organizations.
Tell us broadly about the James Welch Native Literary Festival that you've got coming up this week.
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain:
It started a long time ago for me.
At a certain point, I became aware that the conversations Native writers were having with each other just weren't part of the public discourse. I wanted to create a space where Native writers could speak publicly with one another in a way that felt comfortable, in front of anyone who wanted to listen.
Those conversations were happening over lunch, at bars, on long car rides, over text messages and phone calls. I felt those conversations were valuable enough that they deserved a public audience.
I first tried to make something like this happen at Blackfeet Community College in Browning, but I couldn't get it off the ground. Then, a few years ago, we were finally able to make it happen here in Missoula, and it turned out to be fantastic.
Colter Nuanez:
That's so cool, and we're certainly happy to help spread the word because it looks like it's going to be a really educational and engaging week for anyone interested in literature.
I know there's also a big poetry component this year, but first let's talk about James Welch himself. He's obviously someone who had an enormous influence not only on Montana literature, but on American literature as a whole.
What inspired you to name the festival after him, and what kind of influence do you think he's had on Native writers and the writing community in general?
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain:
The impulse behind putting Jim's name on the festival came from those conversations I was having with other Native writers—fiction writers and poets alike.
All of us were talking about Jim's work, but almost nobody else in America seemed to be talking about it. I found that really interesting, and I thought maybe there was a way to help change that.
I realized that Native writers everywhere were discussing both his fiction and his poetry, but that conversation wasn't happening publicly across the country. I wanted to create something that would bring those discussions into the open.
Pairing that original vision—Native writers speaking publicly with one another—with Jim's name felt like a way to address two things at once: helping more people discover James Welch's work, and giving audiences the opportunity to hear conversations they've probably never heard before.
That includes younger Native people who might be inspired by these writers, as well as non-Native audiences who can learn from those conversations.
Colter Nuanez:
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain is joining us to talk about the James Welch Native Literary Festival, which begins Wednesday evening with an event at the Roxy Theater.
They're showing a pair of films that will be followed by discussions beginning at 7 p.m. You can visit RoxyTheater.org for ticket information, and everything about the festival can be found at JamesWelchFestival.org.
Then on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday there are workshops, discussions, readings, and panels covering fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and much more.
Take us through that part of the festival. What's the motivation behind these panels and workshops, and how can people get involved?
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain:
One thing that's really uncommon about Jim is that he excelled as both a poet and a fiction writer.
At our first festival a few years ago, our evening speakers focused on fiction. This time around it just made sense to focus on poetry, so all of our featured evening speakers are poets.
On Saturday night, we're going to have the United States Poet Laureate in conversation with several of his former students. I think that's going to be an incredible discussion and one people definitely shouldn't miss.
The rest of the panels really come from me asking myself what kinds of conversations would be interesting, and where I see gaps in the public discussion surrounding Indian Country and Native issues.
We've got a great panel on tribal sovereignty Saturday morning. We have a panel featuring Blackfeet visual artists, because there are so many outstanding artists whose work deserves attention.
We'll also have conversations about nonfiction, debut fiction, and Stephen Graham Jones, who has an incredible following around the country. People come from everywhere to see him speak.
So that's really the goal—thinking about what's interesting and where we can contribute something meaningful to the conversation.
Colter Nuanez:
The poetry angle is fascinating because, as you mentioned, it's pretty rare to find someone who's truly exceptional in both fiction and poetry.
James Welch had that rare ability, and his poetry collection Riding the Earthboy 40, published back in 1971, remains incredibly influential.
For aspiring poets who might attend the festival, what do you hope they'll gain from these conversations?
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain:
Poets have a very specific type of conversation that they have with each other, and I think those conversations are interesting to anyone who's interested in writing, but they're especially valuable for poets.
Regardless of what kind of poet you are, your background, your race, your ethnicity—those conversations can be useful, if not profoundly helpful.
The idea has always been to get these writers together to actually talk about writing.
Native writers, whenever we're in public, often end up answering questions about our identities, where we're from, or broader social issues in America. Those conversations are important, but what I really wanted was for people to have the opportunity to hear Native writers speak about their craft—about writing itself.
I think those kinds of conversations are valuable for anyone, regardless of who they are. That's always been the goal.
Colter Nuanez:
To find out more about the James Welch Native Literary Festival, visit JamesWelchFestival.org.
We're joined by Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, one of the organizers of this festival, and we appreciate him taking some time to join us.
Most of the events happening Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will take place at either the Missoula Art Museum (MAM) or the Missoula Children's Theatre (MCT). To find the complete schedule of workshops, keynote speakers, panel discussions, readings, and everything else happening throughout the weekend, head to JamesWelchFestival.org.
Am I right, Sterling? Almost everything at this festival is free to the public.
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain:
Yes. The only reason we're charging admission at the Roxy is because we've got to cover the theater rental. Otherwise, that event would be free too.
Everything else is completely free.
We really wanted to keep this festival as open and accessible as possible. We didn't want anyone to feel limited because they couldn't afford to attend.
That was always part of our vision—that this festival would be available to anyone who wanted to be part of it.
The only event that's not taking place at the Roxy, MCT, or MAM is a Friday evening reception at Radius Gallery.
There, Lois Welch—Jim's widow, and one of the organizers and visionaries behind this festival—is going to give a talk about Jim, about Riding the Earthboy 40, and how that book of poems came together.
I think that's going to be a really special event, and that's free as well.
Colter Nuanez:
Well, that's fantastic.
As a writer myself, and someone who grew up here in Montana, James Welch has been a huge influence on me. Winter in the Blood is one of my favorite books, so it's really exciting to see this festival celebrating his work.
I'm definitely going to try to make it down for at least a couple of these events.
Before we let you go, Sterling, is there anything else people should know?
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain:
The biggest thing I hope people take away from the festival is that they simply enjoy themselves.
That's always been the ultimate goal—to create something that's informative, meaningful, and just a really good experience for everyone involved, both the writers and the people attending.
That's been the vision from the very beginning.
I just hope people leave with good feelings, and I hope they'll come down and experience it for themselves.
Colter Nuanez:
Very good.
Again, you can find everything you need to know at JamesWelchFestival.org.
Sterling, thanks so much for spending a few minutes with us today. Best of luck with the festival this week.
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain:
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
Colter Nuanez:
The James Welch Native Literary Festival returns to Missoula July 16 through the 18th.
The festival features prominent Indigenous writers, including Arthur Z., Director of Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
This year's festival highlights Native poetry in recognition of James Welch's first publication, Riding the Earthboy 40, his only collection of poetry.
The festival includes free poetry panels, readings, and writing workshops. Events on July 16 and 18 will take place at the Missoula Children's Theatre, while July 17 events will be held at the Missoula Art Museum.
For more information, visit JamesWelchFestival.org.