MEET OUR NEW YOUTH MENTOR!

Letter from the Founder:

Last year, I ventured out to South Dakota to help celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Pine Ridge. I was feeling particularly homesick, and I was delighted when I landed in Rapid City, where the weather was just cruising into Fall.

I was there to work with First Peoples’ Fund’s youth programming, specifically the Dances with Words organization. But this trip was also how I met Pte San Win Little Whiteman, who worked as a poet mentor with the program for three years.

Pte is a multitalented slam poet themselves. They are a Brave New Voices alum, and have performed at regional, state-wide, and national levels, including at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. They also care deeply about their home in Pine Ridge— a care that extends to their loved ones and young, local writers.

Pte has also been working with NDN Girls Book Club more informally up until this point; they were featured in a Teen Vogue article with other familiar faces from Book Club. They helped to table at our launch in Phoenix, where they gave book recommendations and performed at the open mic/poetry salon. And they have lended their literary expertise to multiple reading picks, featured poets, and photoshoot themes!

I am so humbled to announce that Pte San Win has joined NDN Girls Book Club as our Youth Mentor and Programming Lead. They will be leading free workshops for ALL in the coming months, beginning in late September. Make sure to say hello on their social media announcement here.

Welcome, Pte San Win!

xoxo

NDN GIRLS BOOK CLUB