Meet the Speakers

Keynote Speaker - Sherman Alexie

A prolific novelist, poet and screenplay writer, Alexie has been hailed as one of the best young writers of his generation. The New Yorker named him one of the top 20 writers for the 21st Century. His talent and voice shine brightly, far beyond the pages of his work. Men’s Journal called him “the world’s first fast-talking, wisecracking, mediagenic American Indian superstar.”

A gifted orator, Alexie won the World Heavyweight Championship Poetry Bout four years in a row, from 1998 to 2001. In his lectures, he tells tales of contemporary American Indian life laced with razor-sharp humor, unsettling candor and biting wit. He reshapes our myths and stereotypes by speaking his mind on a wide range of issues — from race relations, religion and politics to homophobia, war and morality.

A Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian, Alexie grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington. As a college student, he landed in a poetry-writing class and his professor quickly recognized his “intensity of language, passion and energy.” Upon the publication of The Business of Fancydancing, his first collection of poetry, The New York Times Book Review described him as “one of the major lyric voices of our time.”

Since then, Alexie has authored eleven books of poetry, several collections of short stories, two novels and numerous works for magazines. He wrote the screenplay for and produced the feature film Smoke Signals, based on his book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. The film premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, winning both the Audience Award and Filmmakers Trophy.

Alexie's first novel, Reservation Blues, won Booklist’s Editors Choice Award for Fiction. Indian Killer was a New York Times Notable Book and The Toughest Indian in the World won the 2001 PEN/Malamud award, honoring excellence in the art of storytelling. In Ten Little Indians, a 2003 national bestseller and Publishers Weekly Book of the Year, Alexie’s stories are driven by a haunting lyricism and naked candor that cut to the heart of the human experience.

In 2002 Alexie released his directorial film debut, The Business of Fancydancing, which he also wrote. The film won many awards, including the Outstanding Screenwriting Award at Outfest. He is currently working on a screenplay adaptation of The Toughest Indian in the World, which he will direct and co-produce.

His book, Flight, is a sci-fi novel and a parable of war featuring an edgy teen outcast named Zits on the verge of committing a colossal act of violence. The New York Times called it “the most unpretentious novel [they’ve] read in a long time,” adding, “there isn’t a false word in it.”

Alexie recently won the National Book Award for his latest book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a coming-of-age, interracial comedy for young adults based on his first year at an all-white high school.

With his humorous, revealing and exuberant works of art, Alexie compels audiences to see the world for all of its pitfalls and possibilities.

Presenters, Panelists and Moderators
(This list is not complete and is subject to change) 

Andrea Batista Schlesinger – Drum Major Institute
Andrew Gillum – People For the American Way
Angela Omulepu, Northwest Federation of Community Organizers
Anita Sinha – Advancement Project
Beth Newkirk – Organizing Apprenticeship Project
Bunky Echo Hawk – Visual Artist
Chris Rabb – Afro-Netizen
Clarissa Goodlett - Color of Change
Daisy Hernández – Colorlines, Applied Research Center
Dominique Apollon – Applied Research Center
Favianna Rodriguez - Taller Tupac Amaru
Fekkak Mamdooh – Restaurant Opportunity Center - United
Francis Calpotura, Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action (TIGRA)
Gabriel Rey-Goodlatte - Color of Change
Gary Delgado – Applied Research Center
Gerald Lenoir – Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Ian Kim – Ella Baker Center
Jeff Chang – Vibe Magazine, Author – Can’t Stop Won’t Stop and Total Chaos
Jermaine Toney - Organizing Apprenticeship Project
Jill Reese - Northwest Federation of Community Organizers
John Jackson – Schott Foundation for Public Education
Josina Morita - United Congress of Community & Religious Organizations
Judith Browne-Dianis - Advancement Project
Judith LeBLanc – United for Peace and Justice
Julia Grantham Freeman - Organizing Apprenticeship Project
Kenyon Farrow – Queers for Economic Justice
LeeAnn Hall - Northwest Federation of Community Organizers
Liza Sabater – Culture Kitchen
Lori Villarosa - Philanthropic Institute for Racial Equity
Malkia Cyril – The Center for Media Justice
Mark Winston Griffith- Drum Major Institute
Mattie Weiss - Campus Camp Wellstone
Melanie Cervantes - Taller Tupac Amaru
Nunu Kidane – Priority Africa Network
Patricia Watkins – United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations
Rinku Sen – Applied Research Center
Rocio Cordoba – California Latinas for Reproductive Justice
Sally Lehrman – Society for Professional Journalists
Salvador Miranda - Organizing Apprenticeship Project
Saru Jayaraman – Restaurant Opportunity Center - United  
Seth Wessler  - Applied Research Center
Soyinka Rahim – Our Thing Performance Art Company
Steve Pitts - UC Labor Center
Tammy Johnson – Applied Research Center
Terry Keleher – Applied Research Center
Van Jones – Green For All            
Viviana Renella  - Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action (TIGRA)
Will Pittz – Washington Community Action Network


Please check back soon for more information.