The Los Angeles Times reports that Paula Gunn Allen, California author, poet, scholar and lauded advocate for American Indian literature, died in her Ft. Bragg home on May 29. She was 68. From her memorial website, an overview of her seminal works:

“For the last thirty years Allen was a foremost voice in Native American literature and the study of American literature. She was also a founding mother of the contemporary women’s spirituality movement. Her most recent work, Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat (2004, Harper-Collins), received a Pulitzer Prize nomination. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions (1986, Beacon), a collection of critical essays, is a cornerstone in the study of American Indian culture and gender. Her edited anthology Studies in American Indian Literature: Critical Essays and Course Designs (1983, MLA) laid the foundation for the study of Native American literature. She promoted and popularized the works of other Native American writers through the anthologies Song of the Turtle: American Indian Literature, 1974-1995 (1996, Ballantine); Voice of the Turtle: American Indian Literature, 1900-1970 (1994, Ballantine); and Spider Woman’s Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writing by Native American Women (1989, Ballantine Books), which received the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation…”

Allen authored many other books, including six volumes of poetry. Read more about her work and leave a message in the memorial guestbook at paulagunnallen.com.