Oneida Indian author and poet LOUIS V. CLARK III will read from his book “How to Be an Indian in the 21st Century”.

This book received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library Association in 2018.

Written with the rhythms of Oneida oral storytelling traditions, this new Wisconsin Historical Society Press memoir weaves poems and prose to capture the alienation, audacity, and triumph that have defined Clark’s life experiences, from childhood on the Rez, through racially-charged bullying, and to his role as modern-day elder. Clark celebrates “The heartbeat of my nation” and encourages the rest of us to “speak the truth, confound the idiots, [and] listen to the silence.”

Clark’s unique voice takes readers on a deeply personal and profound quest through a wide range of subjects — from workplace racism to falling in love and the Green Bay Packers — to discover what it means to him to be an American Indian. In sharing the sometimes uncomfortable truths he unravels, Clark adds an important voice to the ongoing conversation about race and belonging in America.

Born and raised on the Oneida Reservation in northeastern Wisconsin, Louis V. Clark III (Two Shoes) turned to poetry to continue the oral tradition of his people, the People of the Standing Stone. A member of the Iroquois Confederacy, he and his family are of the Bear clan.

His first chapbook, “Two Shoes,” was published in 2011. He and his wife live in Omro, Wisconsin, where their home is filled with love from six children and nine grandchildren.

Copies of the book will be available for sale and signing.

The event is sponsored by Friends of Lorine Neidecker, and is free.