Native Writers' Circle of the Americas


The Native Writers' Circle of the Americas is an organization of writers who identify as being Native American, First Nations, or of Native American ancestry.
The organization presents literary awards annually to writers in three categories:
The awards are voted upon by member writers.
The Circle was formed as the outgrowth of the 1992 "Returning the Gift" Native Writers' Festival, a gathering of writers from Canada, the United States, Mexico and the Central America. The NWCA maintains contact information for Native American writers and a collection of Native American literature. The organization has been hosted by the University of Oklahoma's department of Native American Studies and is currently housed in the Department of English.

Lifetime Achievement Awards

The Native Writers' Circle of the Americas awarded the following Native authors with Lifetime Achievement Awards:

First Book Awards for Prose

  • 1992: Robert L. Perea, Stacey's Story
  • * Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, The Lasting of the Mohegans
  • * William S. Yellow Robe, Jr., The Star Quilter
  • 1993: Philip H. Red Eagle, Red Earth
  • 1994: Gus Palmer, Jr., Calling Through the Creek
  • 1995: Glenn J. Twist, Boston Mountain Tales
  • 1996: No award.
  • 1997: Robert J. Perry, Life With the Little People
  • * D. L. Birchfield, The Oklahoma Basic Intelligence Test
  • 1998: No award.
  • 1999: Evelina Zuni Lucero, Night Sky, Morning Star
  • 2000: Chip Livingston, Naming Ceremony
  • 2001: Valerie Red-Horse, Naturally Native
  • 2002: Edythe S. Hobson, An Inquest Every Sunday
  • 2003: Susan Supernaw, The Power of a Name
  • 2004: Kimberly G. Roppolo, Back to the Blanket: Reading, Writing, and Resistance for American Indian Literary Critics
  • 2005: Mia Heavener, Tundra Berries
  • 2006: Judy R. Smith, Yellowbird
  • * Frederick White, Welcome to the City of Rainbows
  • 2007: Mary Lockwood, Attugu Summa/Come and See What It Is
  • 2008: Linda LeGarde Grover, "The Road Back to Sweetgrass"
  • 2009: JudyLee Oliva, Te Ata and Other Plays
  • 2018: no award given

First Book Awards for Poetry