POTSDAM, N.Y. (WWTI) – SLC Arts and the Potsdam Public Library will host author Rebecca Pelky at 6 p.m. Tuesday, September 26 in an event that’s free and open to the public.

Pelky is a citizen of the Brothertown Indian Nation of Wisconsin. She holds a doctorate from the University of Missouri, as well as an MFA in writing and a Bachelor of Science in zoology from Northern Michigan University. As an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Clarkson University, she teaches film studies, literature, and creative writing. 

Her second collection of poetry, Through a Red Place, won the 2021 Perugia Press Prize. Through a Red Place is a bilingual collection of poems, written in Mohegan and English, which responds to archival, historical, and field research to consider how Native and non-Native people have historically utilized the same land. Her first book, Horizon of the Dog Woman, was published in 2020 by Saint Julian Press.

Poetry with Purpose is a series of events that highlights a local author or organization and brings a monthly offering of literature that links to activism, advocacy, or our North County history. Each event will offer a reading and presentation, an open Q&A, and a book signing and opportunity to meet the author.

These events are created to engage all of our North Country community, not only those that have an interest in poetry and literature. This series will take the community on journeys through local and relevant issues of our time and of our North Country space focusing on a shared purpose.