About the Book
Seven Eyes, Seven Legs: Supernatural Stories of the Abenaki is the fourth book by husband-and-wife team Gerard Rancourt Tsonakwa
and Yalaikia Wapitaska. Arizona State Museum hosted a book signing,
author reading, art show and sale celebrating the publication.
Yalaikia and Gerard
All photos by Geoffrey Ashley
"This was serious work for me - the first creative writing done in
Abenaki since the 1920s," says Tsonakwa. "There are about 25 stories,
ones I've been telling and retelling over the past 30 years, that
I've finally put in print." The book is divided into three sections:
spiritual stories, children's stories, and spooky tales. Each story
is accompanied by a paragraph of the original Abenaki verse.
Included in this landmark publication is a number of firsts. There
is a 7 page brief history of the Abenaki people - the first history
to be written by a tribal member. There's a glossary of Abenaki words
used in the stories - the first such Abenaki-English glossary of its
kind. Included is a map showing Abenaki homelands (eastern Canada,
northeastern US) and illustrating the geographic origins of the stories
told in the book.
In addition to being co-written by the dynamic team, the book is also
illustrated with their original artworks. Both are gifted three-dimensional
sculptors. Many of their pieces were on exhibit at Arizona State Museum July 16
through August 15, 2001
|
