Fedullo, Mick 1949-

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FEDULLO, Mick 1949-

PERSONAL:

Born 1949. Education: University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, M.F.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—MT. Agent—William Morris & Co., Inc., 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER:

Writer, poet, and teacher. Writer-in-residence on Gila River, White River Apache, and Navajo Indian reservations, AZ; language-development consultant and creative writing teacher, Crow reservation, MT, 1984—.

WRITINGS:

The Maze: Poems, Galileo Pres (Baltimore, MD), 1985.

Light of the Feather: Pathways through Contemporary Indian America, William Morrow (New York, NY), 1992.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mick Fedullo is a writer and poet who has influenced Native American children across the western United States. He chronicles his experiences from reservations in Arizona to the Crow reservation in Montana in Light of the Feather: Pathways through Contemporary Indian America. Here he writes of his first contact with native culture and his own adjustment as he worked to gain the trust of the young students of the Gila River reservation, where he taught for many years. As they became more proficient in writing their own poetry, Fedullo introduced them to the idea of poetry readings, and they participated in such events not only on the reservations but off it, as well.

Fedullo writes of his work with other tribal groups, too, including the Hopi, Apache, and Navajo. He notes that many of the locations where he taught were geographically isolated and offers anecdotes that reflect the Native experience. The author describes his participation in Native feasts, dances, and rituals, including his experience in a sweat lodge. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called his memoir "an insightful, colorful account of real achievement in Indian education today—and solid evidence of the benefits of multiculturalism at its best."

Montana has been Fedullo's home since 1984. He was adopted into a Crow family of the Whistling Water Clan and given the name of Storyteller. Fedullo has taught children in grades seven through twelve in the Lodge Grass School District, and a group of seven of his young Crow poets read their work at a 2003 event at the Smithsonian Institution. Robert Capriccioso noted on the Connect for Kids Web site that Smithsonian program specialist Ceni Myles wanted to bring them together with local high school students so that the non-natives could get an idea of what life is like on the reservation. Myles said that Fedullo "is respectful of his kids' culture. He plants ideas and offers structure, but allows their greatness that's already inside to come out even more." Fedullo's young poets have read at other venues, too, including the Library of Congress.