Join First Draft Writers’ Series on Nov. 20 in Pendleton

Nov 20

PENDLETON — The First Draft Writers’ Series is offered in a hybrid format tonight, Nov. 20, starting at 7 p.m. Listeners can attend in person at Pendleton Center for the Arts, 214 N. Main St., or join via Zoom — find the link at pendletonarts.org/first-draft. Admission is free. Tonight features “This Native American Life: Soul of the Dress,” a book that highlights the work of the Harris sisters who make traditional beadwork and leatherwork “while having a huge appreciation for western and Indigenous fashion,” according to a press release.

The Harris sisters, Katie Harris (Kap Kap Tsonmi), Anna Harris (Witskainit) and Mary Harris (Ipnawasatillup) will be at the center to talk about the book and the work that inspired it. “This Native American Life” offers a glimpse into the lives, histories, and traditional regalia of the Wallowa Band Nez Perce, Cayuse, Umatilla, and Karuk tribes of the Columbia Plateau, near present-day Pendleton. According to the press release, in 2010 Katie, Anna and Mary Harris “began re-creating plateau-style, ceremonial buckskin dresses to preserve their tribal heritage. These hand-sewn, intricately beaded dresses, write the sisters, carry ‘beauty, connection, trauma, and love,’ as well as ‘the souls of the women who lived in them.'”

Katie Harris

Join First Draft Writers’ Series on Nov. 20 in Pendleton

Local sisters explore Native heritage in new book

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