A writer whose works were called”ground-breaking”by feminist Gloria Steinem will speak at West Virginia University on Tuesday, Oct. 16, as this years Judith Gold Stitzel Womens StudiesScholar-in-Residence.

Marilou Awiakta, a Cherokee/Appalachian poet, storyteller and essayist will present”Womanspirit and Survival: Reweaving/Balancing the Webs”at 7:30 p.m. in the National Research Center for Coal and Energys Assembly Rooms 101 A&B. A reception and book-signing will follow.

“Were excited to have Marilou with us,”said Barbara Howe, director of the WVU Center for Womens Studies, sponsors of the event.”She is a prominent author, and her presence will allow us to strengthen our links with different units around campus. Her residency also gives our students and faculty an opportunity to get to know herand for her to know us.”

Awiakta, who combines the wisdom of personal experience and Cherokee/Appalachian heritage and science, is the author of several books, including Abiding Appalachia: Where Mountain and Atom Meet, Rising Fawn and the Fire Mystery, and Selu: Seeking the Corn Mothers Wisdom.

Selu was published in 1993 and soon became a Quality Paperback Book Club Selection. Now used as a text in over 400 universities and colleges, Selu applies the practical thinking of the Cherokee traditional story to contemporary life.

In addition to participating in this years residency, Awiakta will speak at an Eastern Woodland Indians Conference being held at WVU in conjunction with Diversity Week.

Her talk,”The Power of Story in Claiming and Proclaiming Our Heritage: A Cherokee/Appalachian Perspective,”will be held from 4-4:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, in the Mountainlair ballrooms. A panel discussion and summary session will follow.

Awiakta graduated magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee in 1958 with a double major in English and French and a minor in history. During the mid-1960s, she was an interpreter for the U.S. Air Force in Leon, France.

She has been featured in three PBS programs and received the Outstanding Contribution to Appalachian Literature Award in 1991.

Judith Gold Stitzel, for whom the residency is named, is the founding director of the Universitys Center for Womens Studies and a WVU English professor. Now retired, the residency program was established in her honor.

For more information, contact the Center at 304-293-2339.