i was in a native writing community, the school that i teach at is the institute of american indian arts in santa fe, new mexico. and even though some of the information, some of the native audience knows, i wanted to write in a compelling way that would be interesting even to people who already knew the information, so i really tried to hone specifically the prologue and the interlude, so even if that audience already knew the information, i wanted it to be compelling and to feel new. well, you mentioned the prologue and i think those who are not familiar with the story of the native americans experience or at least familiar with it only in the broadest terms, outside the united states, for example, will find it very raw and fierce. i mean, it is a terribly sad story. yeah, i mean, it was surprising to me because i did research myself. you don'tjust come into being native with knowledge and the schools definitely don't teach, if anything they teach a candy coated version meant to make it seem more like a heroic adventure across an empty frontier. so, in the research i was doing, i wasn'

i was in a native writing community, the school that i teach at is the institute of american indian arts some of the information, some of the native audience knows, i wanted to write in a compelling way that would be interesting even to people who already knew the information, so i really tried to hone specifically the prologue and the interlude, so even if that audience already knew the information, i wanted it to be compelling and to feel new. well, you mentioned the prologue and i think those who are not familiar with the story of the native americans experience or at least familiar with it only in the broadest terms, outside the united states, for example, will find it very raw and fierce. i mean, it is a terribly sad story. yeah, i mean, it was surprising to me because i did research myself. you don'tjust come into being native with knowledge and the schools definitely don't teach, if anything they teach a candy coated version meant to make it seem more like a heroic adventure across an empty frontier. so, in the research i was doing, i wasn't surprised to find a lot of facts that w

. >> brown: orange studied and now teaches at the influential institute of american indian arts in santa, and he's just one among a new generation of writers and poets lling a new native story. the goal now, he says, for himself and other writers, is to sustain the momentum they're building, and keep telling stories. >> one of the functions of literature that i admire is howo it can makfeel less lonely in the world when you can read an intimate detail that a writer writes about and you have this feeling, like,h my god, i didn't know anybody else thought like that or did that. i want to be able to keep doing it and sport my family and help other native writers, at the program i teach in and get their work out in the world. >> brown: for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in oakland, california. >> woodruff: next, we turn to another installment of our weekly brief but spectachear series we ask people about their passions. hamse warfa was born in somalia and moved with his family to the u.s. in 1994 after escaping imalia's civil war and spending almost three yeaa refugee camp in kenya. he