FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
California Speaking Tour for Distinguished Native Writer and Legal Scholar, Walter Echo-Hawk, kicks off in Los Angeles with Book Talk Event for the UCLA American Indian Studies Center and UCLA Native Nations Law & Policy Center, February 5, 2020.
Los Angeles, California, January 29, 2020. UCLA American Indian Studies Center in partnership with the UCLA Native Nation Law & Policy Center, with additional support from the UCLA AISC Library and UCLA Library presents a conversation and book signing with Walter Echo-Hawk on February 5, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. Walter Echo-Hawk, from the Pawnee Nation, will discuss and read from his new book, The Sea of Grass: A Family Tale from the American Heartland.
The event will held in the Presentation Room at the UCLA Charles E. Young Library on February 5, 2020. The event starts with a reception at 1:30 p.m., followed by a book talk at 2:00 p.m., and finishing with a book signing at 3:00 p.m. Books will be available for purchase at the event.
Walter Echo-Hawk is an eminent Native American speaker, author, attorney, and legal scholar who has worked on seminal and ground-breaking Native legal cases and issues, who is also the Chairman of the Board for the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums. Echo-Hawk will discuss his extensive research and the importance of his Native American ancient roots to his storytelling about the real people whose lives were shaped by the land, animals and plants of his homeland. Echo-Hawk will read passages from his book, The Sea of Grass, A Family Tale from the American Heartland. The novel chronicles the lives and times of ten generations of his Pawnee family from the Central Plains of North America. His family survived the challenges of colonialism as settlers engulfed their homeland during the rise and growth of the United States.
“All peoples have roots that extend back in time, with powerful stories to tell about their ancestors,” Echo-Hawk offers, “including Native Americans.” Echo-Hawk will explain why he wrote this book, how he gathered family history, and how he wrote this historical novel. Afterward, he will give selective readings. His talk will captivate scholars in contemporary Native American literature, indigenous culture, American Indian history, and creative writing—as well as students interested in researching family history and telling their ancestors’ stories.
Echo-Hawk’s next stop will be speaking at Sonoma State University on February 6, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. at the University Student Center, and then at University of California at Berkeley on February 21, 2020 in the Multicultural Community Center at 5:30 p.m. More details can be found on his webpage at www.walterechohawk.com
UCLA American Indian Studies Center (AISC) works to facilitate and disseminate research about indigenous peoples, strengthen Native graduate and undergraduate education as well as seek extramural funds to support student and faculty research, and carry out university and public service programs related to the Center’s mission. www.aisc.ucla.edu
Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee) is a Native American speaker, author, and attorney. Throughout his distinguished legal career, he has worked to protect the legal, political, property, cultural, and human rights of Indian tribes and Native peoples. An articulate and versed indigenous rights activist, Echo-Hawk delivers keynote speeches and lectures on a wide variety of indigenous topics, involving Native arts and cultures, indigenous history, federal Indian law, religious freedom, environmental protection, Native American cosmology, and human rights. In 2018, he taught law in Honolulu as the Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals at the University of Hawai’i. www.walterechohawk.com
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