Joy Harjo: Crazy Brave: A Memoir

Joy Harjo’s CRAZY BRAVE: A Memoir is a spiritual coming-of-age memoir from a poet praised for her “breathtaking complex witness and word-remaking language” —Adrienne Rich

In this soul-stirring memoir, grounded in tribal myth and ancestry, music and poetry, Joy Harjo, one of our leading Native American voices, details her journey to becoming a poet. Born in Oklahoma, the end place of the Trail of Tears, Harjo grew up learning to dodge an abusive stepfather by finding shelter in her imagination, a deep spiritual life, and connection with the natural world. She attended an Indian arts boarding school, where she nourished an appreciation for painting, music, and poetry; gave birth while still a teenager; and struggled on her own as a single mother, eventually finding her poetic voice. Narrating the complexities of betrayal and love, CRAZY BRAVE is a memoir about family and the breaking apart necessary in finding her spirit-charged voice. Harjo’s tale of a hardscrabble youth, young adulthood, and transformation into an award-winning poet and musician is haunting, unique, and visionary.

Ms. Harjo is a gifted writer who can both celebrate and contemplate the mysteries and cycles of our ongoing existence. —Amy Ray, Indigo Girls

"Joy Harjo is now writing a visionary poetry that is among the very best we have.”
—Village Voice

"Defining the poet's role as a 'journey for truth, for justice,' Harjo explores the role of the artist in society, the quest for love, the links among the arts, what constitutes family, and what it means to be human." —Library Journal

Harjo is the author of 15 books and 6 music albums, including: “She Had Some Horses”, The Woman Who Fell from the Sky”, and “In Mad Love and War.”

Hosted by Mark Anquoe, International Indian Treaty Council and Co-host, KPFA’s Bay Native Circle
$12 advance tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/251640 :: 800-838-3006 and at independent bookstores by June 14
Pegasus Books (3 locations), Mrs. Dalloway’s, Moe’s Books, Walden Pond, DIESEL, A Bookstore, and Modern Times ($15 door) KPFA benefit
Information: http://www.kpfa.org/events