Walt Whitman Birthplace Association will present its 2017 program series, Salut au Monde, on Sunday, Aug. 13 from 2 to 4 p.m., with authors Joseph Bruchac and Sandi Brewster-Walker.
Bruchac will present a 60-minute program on Native American storytelling, while Brewster-Walker will speak about her book, “The Colored Girl from Long Island,” as well as her experience as a Native American.
After their presentation, there will be an audience Q&A, book signing and children’s activity, “Make a Dreamcatcher.”
For over thirty years, Bruchac has been creating poetry, short stories, novels, anthologies and music that reflect his Native American heritage and traditions.
He is the author of more than 120 books for children and adults, including the bestselling “Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories,” “Environmental Activities for Children,” and other titles in his “Keepers” series, with their remarkable integration of science and folklore.
His books continue to receive critical acclaim and are used in classrooms throughout the country.
Brewster-Walker is president and executive director of the Long Island Indigenous People Museum & Research Institute.
Her book tells of her early life in North Amityville during the 1940s and ‘50s when her family was considered colored due to their descendancy from the Natives that traded Long Island.
She also discusses why many Southern blacks relocated to Long Island during the Great Migration.
The event is funded in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
The Salut au Monde series began with The Immigration Challenge with Tatyana Kleyn on June 23, and was followed with Re-Discovering Walt with Zachary Turpin on July 8.
The series will continue with Poetry Outsider/Insider Poetry Recital by bilingual students with Barbara Suter (date to be determined), and Wild Things, Wild Places with Jane Alexander on Sunday, Dec. 10.
Admittance to Salut au Monde is free and open to the public.
The Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site is located at 246 Old Walt Whitman Road in Huntington Station.
For more information, go to www.waltwhitman.org.
