Joan Kane

Joan Naviyuk Kane is an Inupiaq poet, writer, and educator with family roots from King Island (Ugiuvak) and Mary's Igloo, Alaska. A graduate of Harvard College (BA) and Columbia University (MFA), she has published multiple acclaimed poetry collections including *The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife* (2009), *Hyperboreal* (2013 American Book Award winner), *Milk Black Carbon* (2017), and *Dark Traffic* (2021). Her work explores themes of Indigenous identity, environmental change, and cultural preservation in the Arctic. Kane has received numerous honors including a Whiting Writers' Award (2009), Guggenheim Fellowship (2018), and Paul Engle Prize (2023). Currently an Associate Professor at Reed College, she previously taught at Harvard, Tufts, and the Institute of American Indian Arts. As a journalist, she's written for High Country News, addressing issues like climate impacts on Alaskan villages and Indigenous diaspora.