Oklahoma Author: Louis (Little Coon) Oliver
(1904-1991)

Born April 9, 1904, Coweta, Creek Nation, Indian Territory, Louis (Little Coon) Oliver was a Euchee of the golden Racoon clan from the Chattahoochee region now called the state of Alabama, part of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. He attended Euchee Boarding School through five grades, then graduated high school from Bacone College near Muskogee in 1926.

Oliver lived among the Cherokee in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and attended a special writing group there. He met several published writers including Barney Bush, Joy Harjo, Lance Henson, Carroll Arnett, and Joe Bruchac. Echoes of Our Being, a collection of poems from this workshop was edited by Robert Conley (1982). Bruchac assisted Little Coon in circulating poems to other publishers which gained publications like the bilingual chapbook The Horned Snake (1982) and Caught in a Willow Net (1983). Oliver credited these younger writers with teaching him that poetry did not have to be written in the customary European forms.

Oliver received the first Alexander Posey Literary Award, April 3, 1987, given by the Este Mvskoke Arts Council (co-directors, Helen Chalakee and Joy Harjo) at luncheon at the Symposium of the American Indian, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah. The Este Mvskoke Arts Council was described by Harjo, as Creek Nation Communication Director in 1986, "to promote the preservation of Muscogee culture and the development of new concepts of our culture through the contemporary art forms of the Muscogee people."

Louis Little Coon Oliver died May 10, 1991, W.W. Hastings Indian Hospital, Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Awards and Honors

Louis Oliver received the first Alexander Posey Literary Award, April 3, 1987, given by the Este Mvskoke Arts Council (co-directors, Helen Chalakee and Joy Harjo) at a luncheon at the Symposium of the American Indian, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah. Este Mvskoke Arts Council described by Harjo, as Creek Nation Communication Director in 1986, "to promote the preservation of Muscogee culture and the development of new concepts of our culture through the contemporary art forms of the Muscogee people."

Source: Muscogee Nation News, 16: 4, (April, 1987): 3.

Louis was the Poet of Honor at Oklahoma Poets Day, University of Oklahoma, September 26, 1987. Sponsored by English Department, University of Oklahoma, and Cottonwood Arts Foundation, Norman.

Source: Oklahoma Poets Day brochure, Cottonwood Arts Foundation files.

Sources

Anonymous, Obituary, Muscogee Nation News, 20: 6 June, 1991): 13.
Bruchac, Joseph. "A Red Arrow Arcing Across the Sky: The Writing of Louis Littlecoon Oliver,": Tamaqua: Native American issue, (Parkland College, Champaign, Ill.). 2: 2 (Winter/Spring 1991: 143-148
Burdick, Neal. "A Window on the World" (review of Chasers of the Sun),: Contact II, (Spring 1992): 86.
Chalakee, Helen, "Creek Poet Louis Oliver Receives Inaugural Alexander Posey Award,": Muscogee Nation News, 16: 4, (April, 1987): 3.
Harjo, Joy. "Fishing" (poem),: New York Times, June 21, 1991 (A27)
Hobson, Geary. "The Literature of Indian Oklahoma: A Brief History,": World Literature Today, 64:3 (Summer, 1990): 428.
Kenny, Maurice, "I Do Not Waste What is Wild ....Louis Little Coon Oliver,": in On Second Thought: A Compilation. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995, 258-259.
Oliver, Louis. "Who I Am," in Estiyt Omayat: Creek Writings.: Muskogee, Oklahoma: Indian University Press, Bacone College, 1985. (Bilingual)

Books

The Horned Snake, Merrick, NY: Cross-Cultural Communications, 1982.

16 pages (Bilingual)

Caught in a Willow Net, Greenfield Center, N.Y.: Greenfield Review Press, 1983.

88 pages.

Estiyt Omayat: Creek Writings, Muskogee, Oklahoma: Indian University Press,

Bacone College. 1985. 20 pages. (Bilingual)

Chasers of the Sun: Creek Indian Thoughts, Greenfield Center, NY: Greenfield Review Press,

1991 (106 pages). [Review by Rodney Simard, American Indian Quarterly, 15:4 (Fall 1991): 532-533; Review by Neal Burdick, Contact IIContact II, (Spring 1992): 86].

Anthologies

Echoes of Our Being: A Collection of Poetry by the Tahlequah Indian Writer's Group: edited by Robert J. Conley. Muskogee, Okla.: Indian University Press, Bacone College, 1982. (11 poems [unpaginated, 51-57].
Songs From This Earth On Turtle's Back: Contemporary American Indian Poetry: edited by Joseph Bruchac. Greenfield Center, NY: Greenfield Review Press, 1983 (181-185) (5 poems).
The Clouds Threw This Light: Contemdporary Native American Poetry: edited by Phillip Foss. Santa Fe, NM: Institute of American Indian Arts Press, 1983 (211-214) (3 poems).
Harper's Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry: edited by Duane Niatum. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988 (5-7) (3 poems).
De Aarde is Ons Vlees: Bloemlezing uit het werk van zeventwintig Indiaanse dicters, (Earth is Our Flesh): edited and translated by Jelle Kaspersma, In de knipscheer, Amsterdam: Netherlands, 1990 (134-140) (8 poems).

Some of these books may be available from The North American Native Authors Catalog.

Selected magazines