Esther Belin

Esther Belin
Belin at the 2025 National Book Festival in Washington D.C.
OccupationAuthor
Education
Literary movementWorks based upon Navajo philosophy of Saah Naagháí Bik’eh Hózho[1]
Notable worksFrom the Belly of My Beauty, "Of Cartography: Poems (Sun Tracks)"
Notable awardsAmerican Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation (2000)

Esther Belin is a poet and artist from the Navajo Nation (Diné).[2] Her single-volume poetry book From the Belly of My Beauty was published in1999 and won the American Book Award. Recently, she co-editedThe Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature that was published in 2021 and on the Lists of Best Books, 2010-2023 of the American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL).

Belin received title of the inaugural poet laureate of Durango, Colorado (2024–2026) as well as the 2025 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow.

Education

Belin attended the following institutions for higher education degrees: the University of California, Berkeley,[3] the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico,[4] and Antioch University.[1]

Published Works

Poetry

Belin's books
  • From the Belly of My Beauty. Sun traks, v. 38. University of Arizona Press. 1999. ISBN 978-0-8165-1954-5., including "Bringing Hannah Home", "Blues-ing on the Brown Vibe", and "Night Travel"
  • Of Cartography: Poems. University of Arizona Press. 2017. ISBN 978-0-8165-3602-3.
Within other books
  • Allen, Paula Gunn, ed. (1996). Song of the Turtle: American Indian Literature 1974-1994. One World/Ballantine. ISBN 978-0-345-37525-4.
  • Erdrich, Heid E.; Tohe, Laura, eds. (2002). Sister nations : Native American women writers on community. Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-87351-428-9.
  • Goeman, Mishuana (2013). "(Re)routing Native Mobility, Uprooting Settler Spaces in the Poetry of Esther Belin". Mark My Words: Native Women Mapping Our Nations. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-7791-7.
  • Leong, Russell; University of California, Los Angeles Asian American Studies Center; Southern California Asian American Studies Central. Visual Communications (1991). Moving the image : independent Asian Pacific American media arts. Los Angeles: UCLA Asian American Studies Center and Visual Communications, Southern California Asian American Studies Central. pp. 245–247. ISBN 978-0-934052-13-9.
  • Ortiz Simon J., ed. (1997). Speaking for the Generations: Native Writers on Writing. University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1850-0.
  • Walters, Anna Lee, ed. (1993). Neon Pow-Wow: New Native American Voices of the Southwest. Northland Publishing. ISBN 978-0-87358-562-0.

Editor

  • The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature. University of Arizona Press. 2021. ISBN 978-0-8165-4099-0., with other editors

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Clifford, Edward (February 26, 2021). "10 Questions for Esther Belin". The Massachusetts Review: A Quarterly of Literature the Arts and Public Affairs. Retrieved May 28, 2024.
  2. ^ "Esther Belin". International Writing Program Collections. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  3. ^ Berglund, Jeff; Belin, Esther G. (April 21, 2005). ""Planting the Seeds of Revolution": An Interview with Poet Esther Belin (Dine)". Studies in American Indian Literatures. 17 (1): 62–72. doi:10.1353/ail.2005.0025. ISSN 1548-9590. S2CID 162130753.
  4. ^ Carroll, Dennis J. (August 11, 2013). "All in the family: The Edd sisters". The Santa Fe New Mexican. pp. Z108. Retrieved May 27, 2024.