Oceti Sakowin Writers Society Awarded $150K Luce Grant to Publish The Oceti Sakowin Reader

The Oceti Sakowin Writers Society (OSWS) is proud to announce that we have been awarded a $150,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation’s Indigenous Knowledge Initiative to publish The Oceti Sakowin Reader.

This landmark anthology will be the first to bring together Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota voices in a single volume. Selected and curated by Oceti Sakowin elders, scholars, writers, and educators, the reader will feature poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that reflect the values, worldviews, and knowledge systems of the Oceti Sakowin Oyate. Teacher resources, author biographies, cultural activities, and a companion podcast series will further support classroom instruction and community learning.

The project will be led by Dr. Sarah Hernandez (Sicangu Lakota), Associate Professor of English and Director of the Institute for American Indian Research at the University of New Mexico. Dr. Hernandez authored the successful grant proposal and will serve as general editor of the anthology. Read more about Dr. Hernandez here.

Since 1993, OSWS has organized literary efforts to preserve and defend Oceti Sakowin cultures, oral traditions, and histories; to reaffirm our peoples’ political statuses; and to transform inaccurate and harmful representations of our nations. To those ends, we create, research, review, publish, present, and promote works in a variety of genres that foster deeper understanding of our cultures, legacies, and lands.

The Oceti Sakowin Reader directly aligns with this mission by centering the voices of our people and preserving both historical and contemporary works for future generations. With the guidance of our editorial board and community partners, OSWS is committed to ensuring this anthology becomes a resource that strengthens cultural knowledge, affirms sovereignty, and supports education for both Native and non-Native audiences.

For more information and updates on this project, please continue exploring the OSWS website where more updates will be posted soon!