Nancy Wood

Nancy Wood (June 20, 1936 – March 12, 2013) was an American author, poet, and photographer. Wood published numerous collections of poetry as well as children's novels, fiction, and nonfiction. Major themes and influences in her work were the Native American cultures of the Southwestern United States.

Her career, which spanned over five decades, included 28 publications of prose and poetry, and several photograph collections. Wood was a National Endowment for the Arts fellow, and a recipient of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award.

Early life Wood was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, to an Irish Catholic family. "It was 180 degrees from what I knew growing up," she said. "Nature was the center. I began to think in those terms–here was not just a 'religion' but a whole way of being and seeing." Many Winters began a lasting collaboration with illustrator Frank Howell, who provided artwork and illustrations for Wood's poetry publications until his death in 1997.

Wood received many honors throughout her career, including a National Endowment for the Arts literary fellowship, Poetry Hollering Sun, with photographs by Myron Wood, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1972. Many Winters: Prose and Poetry of the Pueblos, illustrated by Frank Howell, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1974. War Cry on a Prayer Feather: Prose and Poetry of the Ute Indians, Doubleday New York, NY), 1979. Spirit Walker, illustrated by Frank Howell, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1993. Dancing Moons, illustrated by Frank Howell, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1995. Shaman's Circle, illustrated by Frank Howell, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1996. Sacred Fire: Poetry and Prose, illustrated by Frank Howell, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1998. We Became as Mountains, Sherman Asher Press (Santa Fe, NM), 2008.

Non-fiction and Anthologies Central City: A Ballad of the West, with photographs by Myron Wood, Chaparral Press (Colorado Springs, CO), 1963. Colorado: Big Mountain Country, with photographs by Myron Wood, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1969 Clearcut: The Deforestation of America, Sierra Club (San Francisco, CA), 1972 In This Proud Land: America, 1935–1943, New York Graphic Society (New York, NY), 1973. The Grass Roots People: An American Requiem, with photographs by Nancy Wood, Harper & Row (New York, NY), 1978. When Buffalo Free the Mountains: The Survival of America's Ute Indians, with photographs by Nancy Wood, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1980. Heartland New Mexico: Photographs from the Farm Administration, 1935–1943, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1989. Taos Pueblo, with photographs by Nancy Wood, Knopf (New York, NY), 1989. The Serpent’s Tongue: Prose, Poetry and Art of the New Mexico Pueblos, Dutton (New York, NY), 1997 Eye of the West, with photographs by Nancy Wood, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 2007.

Fiction The Last Five Dollar Baby, Harper & Row (New York, NY) 1972. The Man Who Gave Thunder to the Earth: A Taos Way of Seeing and Understanding, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1976. The King of Liberty Bend, Harper & Row (New York, NY), 1976. Thunderwoman: A Mythic Novel of the Pueblos, illustrated by Richard Erdoes, Dutton (New York, NY), 1999. The Soledad Crucifixion, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 2012.

Children's Fiction Little Wrangler, photographs by Myron Wood, Doubleday (Garden City, NY), 1966. The Girl Who Loved Coyotes: Stories of the Southwest, illustrated by Diana Bryer, Morrow Junior Books (New York, NY), 1995. Old Coyote, illustrated by Max Grafe, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2006. How the Tiny People Grew Tall: An Original Creation Tale, illustrated by Rebecca Walsh, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2005. Mr. and Mrs. God in the Creation Kitchen, illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2006.

Awards and honors Carter G. Woodson Book Award (1980) National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Poetry (1987) Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award (1993) International Reading Association Teacher's Choice Award (1993) Frank Waters Lifetime Achievement Award (2004) Western Writers of America Spur Award (2005) Zia Award (2013) Independent Publisher Book Awards, Regional Fiction (2013)