A Celebration of Southwest Storytellers- PART 1
ANAYA, HILLERMAN & MOMADAY
WINS NFCB 2003 SILVER REEL AWARD

Cedar Creek Studios' A Celebration of Southwest Storytellers: Anaya, Hillerman, Momaday has been awarded the 2003 Silver Reel Award for a Special National Entertainment Program by the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. The program was produced by Paul Ingles and Nola Daves Moses and broadcast on many public radio stations in the Fall of 2002. It is still available for broadcast. A second installment of the series featuring authors Denise Chavez, Simon Ortiz and Michael McGarrity is in production and is expected to be available to stations in Fall 2003.

STORYTELLERS 1, PROGRAM SUMMARY: February 2, 2002, a remarkable and even unique event in the history of Southwestern letters took place in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, as novelists, Rudolfo Anaya, Tony Hillerman, and N. Scott Momaday took part in a panel discussion before an audience of several hundred at Jemez Valley High School Auditorium. Most obviously, these writers represent the “three cultures” or intermingling literary traditions of New Mexico - the Hispano, the Anglo and the Native American. While Anaya, Hillerman, and Momaday have cultivated their own distinctive voices or styles, they also share a common interest in the magic and mythology of the American Southwest. Their novels, stories, and plays are grounded in the particulars of place, steeped in the landscape and in the ancient cultures of the region.

This 59-minute program is free to all public radio stations. It includes highlights from the panel discussion as well as selected readings from each author's work. You must notify the producer of plans to broadcast (email paul at paulingles.com). CD copies are available.

Click here to hear Part 1 of the program. Click here to hear Part 2 of the program. Click here to hear Part 3 of the program

Click here to view the transcript.

More on A Celebration of Southwest Storytellers: Anaya, Hillerman & Momaday.

The panel featuring the three authors was a good-humored freewheeling discussion of topics including:

• How each author views his particular ethnicity contributing to his work.
• How they feel they became such gifted storytellers.
• How they write.
• What projects do they have in the works?
• How the September 11th terrorist attacks have impacted their thinking and work.

Excerpts:

Rudolfo Anaya: "I get asked about my inspiration and I tell them that writing is just painful to me…painful! And nobody wants to hear that. They don't want to hear about the pain. They just want to hear the trade secrets. I say I don't have any trade secrets. I tell them to go out and feel some pain and maybe they'll get something done."

Tony Hillerman jokes about how the New Mexico landscape seeps into his work. "One critic wrote about my work, 'Hillerman's novels are pretty good in ways but every time you think something's about to happen, he stops and describes a cloud.'"

Scott Momaday on September 11th: "The one positive thing about 9/11 it seems to me is that we have been MADE to think about human life and the salvation of the planet and our souls in a new light."

Bios:

Rudolfo Anaya is a novelist, short-story writer, playwright and professor and is considered "the father of Chicano literature." His books include Bless Me Ultima, Alburquerque and Rio Grande Fall.

Tony Hillerman is an award-winning mystery writer and chronicler of Navajo culture. His books include Hunting Badger, Listening Woman and Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir.

N. Scott Momaday is a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, poet, artist and literary critic. His work includes House Made of Dawn, In the Bear's House and The Ancient Child.

Producer Paul Ingles is a 27 year broadcast veteran and has won numerous awards for his work from the NFCB, OEBIE, and Associated Press. His productions include Peace Talks: Making Peace with Ourselves Since 9-11, The Human Experience, Peace on Earth: A Holiday Folk Tour with Judy Collins, George Harrison: An Appreciation, and In Search of James Brown.

Host Judy Goldberg is a radio and film producer, whose latest work includes the Backroads Radio series.