A new documentary exploring the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning Kiowa novelist N. Scott Momaday will premiere next Monday, November 18, on PBS. N. Scott Momaday: Words from a Bear, will be the finale of the 33rd season of PBS's American Masters series, and was directed by Kiowa filmmaker Jeffrey Palmer.
Coinciding with Native American Heritage Month, the documentary examines Momaday's life and career, following him from his childhood spent on several reservations in the Southwest, through his time as an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico and a doctorate fellow at Stanford University, to the publication in 1968 of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel House Made of Dawn.
In addition to new interviews with Momaday himself, Words from a Bear also features interviews with indigenous author Rilla Askew; Joy Harjo, the first Native American United States Poet Laureate; and actors Robert Redford, Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges and James Earl Jones.
"I describe my filmmaking as a personal exploration of Native American life in 21st-century America," said Palmer. "Much like N. Scott Momaday, I was a young Kiowa artist growing up in the shadow of the Wichita Mountains, dealing with issues of poverty, racism and marginalization. I also experienced the triumphs of using art to maintain the stories of my people, a feeling of respect and honor that I will always present in my work."