Local author Janet Yoder will be speaking at Seattle University on Wednesday, February 19, from 4 – 5 p.m. as part of the Lushootseed Lecture Series. Sponsored by the Indigenous Peoples Institute (IPI) and the Lemieux Library, the Lushootseed Lecture Series invites tribal members, Indigenous people, and other scholars to speak about the Lushootseed language and issues impacting Native Americans and Native American history and culture. The event is open for all to come and listen.

Yoder will read from her book, Where the Language Lives: Vi Hilbert and the Gift of the Lushootseed, which was a finalist for the 2023 WA State Book Award. Janet Yoder draws from interviews conducted over her thirty-year friendship with Hilbert to pay tribute to the woman whose determination and passion helped breathe life into her language and culture. Hilbert’s historical preservation efforts were recognized with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and she was named a Washington State Living Treasure in 1989. One of the essays in Where the Language Lives is about the Healing Heart Symphony, which was commissioned by Vi Hilbert and being performed at Benaroya Hall on March 7th (details below)! 

Janet Yoder’s work has been published in literary journals, including the Baltimore Review, Chautauqua, Jet Fuel Review, Apalachee Review, American Literary Review, and Passages North. Her work has been recognized with a Pushcart Prize nomination and a Hedgebrook residency. She lives with her husband on a floating home in Seattle, Washington. 

“The Lushootseed Lecture series is a three-part series that will highlight the cultural life experiences of two Coast Salish women and the art of traditional storytelling through the eyes of a Coast Salish man,” explains IPI Senior Director Jill LaPointe. “Among many Coast Salish communities, the winter season is intrinsically connected to their spirituality. Historically, the Winter season is when history, culture and spiritual practices are passed from one generation to the next. Attendees will gain greater insight into the significant impact that Vi taqʷšəblu Hilbert had on the revival of the Lushootseed language and culture throughout to the Salish Seas and beyond.”   

The next Lushootseed Lecture Series event will take place March 19, with Roger Fernandes, Native American artist, storyteller, and educator. 

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The Healing Heart of the First People of This Land  
S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, Benaroya Hall  

Friday, March 7th, at 7:30pm 

https://www.seattlesymphony.org/en/concerttickets/calendar/2024-2025/24firstpeople 
 
The Seattle Symphony is excited to partner with Lushootseed Research to present Skagit Elder Vi taqᵂšəblu Hilbert’s commissioned work by Bruce Ruddell. The Healing Heart of the First People of This Land, paired with a screening of the documentary, The Healing Heart of Lushootseed. The doc recounts the extraordinary story of Hilbert’s efforts to commission, then bring this symphonic work to life and "heal the heart of the world" after the tragic events of September 11, 2001.