Ralph Salisbury

Poet, Writer, Professor, Editor

VIDEO + AUDIO RECORDINGS

C.E.S. Wood Retrospective Award Acceptance Speech

Ralph Salisbury accepting the C.E.S. Wood Retrospective Award from Oregon Literary Arts, at the Oregon Book Awards ceremony, Portland, Oregon, April 13, 2015.

C.E.S. Wood Retrospective Award Ceremony

Barbara Drake introducing Ralph Salisbury and awarding him, on behalf of Oregon Literary Arts, the C.E.S. Wood Retrospective Award, Portland, Oregon, April 13, 2015.

Like The Sun In Storm

Ralph Salisbury reads from his 2012 book of poems, Like The Sun In Storm, November 17, 2012, at Tsunami Books, Eugene, Oregon.

Tribute Reading

Tribute Reading by former students at the 2012 NW Poets Concord, May 6, 2012, Newport, Oregon.

New Letters On The Air

Raph Salisbury talks about his Native American heritage, and reads poems from Going to Water and fiction from a novel in progress, Lightning Boy and The War Against Time, in this 1984 interview with Joseph Bruchac.

SELECTED BOOKS

Literary Nonfiction

So Far, So Good (Memoir)
2013

** Winner of the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize **

“Ralph Salisbury’s So Far, So Good will take its place beside Scott Momaday’s The Names and Joy Harjo’s Crazy Brave as a major addition to the ever-growing genre of contemporary Native American autobiography.”

—Geary Hobson

Poetry

Like the Sun in Storm
2012

** Finalist, Oregon Book Award **

The manifest destiny of these poems is justice and salvation in language for people torn down by blind nationalism, war, greed and racism. As soft as lingerie, as tough as steel pipe, and as fine in phrase and image as our best American poets, Ralph Salisbury sings "Like the Sun in Storm" for a world that can be healed.
—Henry Hughes

Light From a Bullet Hole: Poems New and Selected
2009

"The poems of this volume make stunningly clear the ways in which Ralph Salisbury continues to model the traditional and modern (postmodern, if you will) roles of the poet as Cherokee humanist and indigenous cosmopolitan."
—Arnold Krupat

Blind Pumper at the Well
2008

"It’s great to see the energy of an 80-year-old poet at work. Mixing WWII memories with his observations of the peaceful world outside his study windows, these poems celebrate longevity and unflagging concern for peace."
—Diane Wakoski

War in the Genes
2006

"Salisbury writes out of the passion, rage, and lyricism that mark the Native American spirit in these blasphemous times."
—Paula Gunn Allen

Rainbows of Stone
2000

** Finalist, Oregon Book Award **

“A magnificent summa from a superb artist.”

—Louis Owens

Going to the Water
1983

“The words of Going to the Water: Poems of a Cherokee Heritage ‘do it right’. They hit hard. And they must be heard. Listen.”
—Simon Ortiz

Short Fiction

The Indian Who Bombed Berlin and Other Stories
2009

"Salisbury excavates the hearts and minds of his characters, mining them to fuel his stories. And his stories are the richer for it — invariably compelling and continually surprising."
—MSU Press

The Last Rattlesnake Throw and Other Stories
1998

“...unique in tone and voice, unlike the voice of any other American Indian writer writing today.”
—Gordon Henry