Thank you, Ken Grady (9/8/2010)

She was known as Korliss Rollins when she grew up in Collinsville and first developed her interest in being a writer. She credited several teachers and the Collinsville Library for helping cultivate that interest. She started taking journalism classes in college after she left Collinsville in 1965 but soon discovered limitations (then) for women in that male dominated profession. She eventually moved to Connecticut. Her Oklahoma Cherokee heritage and curiosity about Indian history in New England turned into anthropology studies and work in museums. She later worked at the Smithsonian and recently moved back to Oklahoma and works at the Cherokee Heritage Center at Tahlequah.

She read a few of her poems here Saturday (fromher book"Fault Line - Vulnerable Landscapes") and discussed the main topic of her other book "Spirited Encounters". It documents a view of museums transition from having once displayed Indian skeleltal remains and ceremonial artifacts to recent more respectful displays and the return of bones and some artifacts to appropriate Native American organizations. -- Ted