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Craig Santos Perez, A University of Hawai`i English professor accepted a National Book Award for Poetry in New York. Perez is the first Pacific Islander to win the prestigious award.
“When they announced my book as the winner, I was pretty shocked. I was not prepared at all. It took me a couple minutes just to even stand up from the table, and to walk on stage.”
At the last second, he decided to read from his award-winning book, “from unincorporated territory [åmot].” Here’s an excerpt:
“So the next time someone tells you
islanders were illiterate, teach them
about our visual literacies, about how we
still read and write the intertextual sacredness
of all things. And always remember: if you can
write the ocean we will never be silenced.”
Åmot is the Chamorro word for medicine. His poems center on healing from colonialism, militarization and environmental injustice.
Guam or Guåhan is an “unincorporated territory” of the U.S. where the struggles of political self-determination are still being played out. Residents of Guam are U.S. citizens but don’t have a vote in Congress.
Throughout his career, Perez has written about the colonial history and politics of Guam, as well as the experiences, struggles, traumas and triumphs of the Chamorro people.