March 29, 2023, Santa Rosa, CA - Award-winning local author and community leader Greg Sarris will return to Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) to read from his recent memoir, “Becoming Story, a Journey among Seasons, Places, Trees and Ancestors.”
Weaving reminiscences from childhood to present-day, he explores the forces that shaped his childhood and his path to becoming a professional storyteller and tribal leader. The event will take place in the new Burbank Studio Theatre on April 13, from 9:00 am to 10:15 am, with book signing in the lobby after the presentation. Books will be available for purchase in the Studio Theatre Lobby. A livestream will also be available. Visit https://nac.santarosa.edu/ for more information.
Lecture and book signing - “Becoming Story”
Thursday, April 13
9:00 am - 10:15 am
Burbank Studio Theater at Santa Rosa Junior College
Livestream: https://nac.santarosa.edu/
Sarris has published numerous novels, essays, short stories and plays over the course of his career as an academic. An early novel set in Santa Rosa, 1994’s “Grand Avenue,” became a landmark HBO miniseries with a large Native American cast. A chapter of Sarris’ critically acclaimed 1998 novel “Watermelon Nights” was featured as a play in SRJC’s Theatre Arts Program in October 1999. Other novels, plays and scripts have addressed the topic of modern-day Native families struggling with cultural survival alongside life in urban American, but have also included retellings of traditional Miwok stories for audiences of schoolchildren.
A native of Santa Rosa, the SRJC alumnus studied English at UCLA and completed his master’s and Ph.D. at Stanford University. A former professor of English at UCLA and Loyola Marymount University Sarris is the first Distinguished Chair Emeritus at Sonoma State University. Sarris is Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, currently serving his sixteenth consecutive elected term.. He is also chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
“Sarris continues to make himself available to our Santa Rosa Junior College community,” said Dr. Brenda Flyswithhawks, a longtime psychology instructor at SRJC, president of the Native American Faculty and Staff Association, and founder of the Summer Bridge Program for Native American high school students. “He has created scholarships to support Native Students transferring to university, donated to the Day Under the Oaks Native American Celebration, contributed to our Native American Summer Bridge Program, supported cultural exhibits by Native artists at SRJC’s Multicultural Museum, and provided mentorship to Native faculty and classified professionals.”
This event is sponsored by the SRJC Native American Center, in cooperation with the All Our Relations Reading Group, which provides students, faculty, staff and the public opportunities to discuss Native and Indigenous studies and environmental issues within a literary contextual framework.
“Becoming Story, a Journey among Seasons, Places, Trees and Ancestors” is published by Heyday Press, and is available wherever books are sold.
