FARGO — North Dakota’s Poet Laureate Denise Lajimodiere describes her mind like a Rolodex. She has been storing poems away for decades, and when it comes time to write, she pulls out a card from the rotating file.
Yet, it took her 45 years to bring forth her first children’s novel, “Josie Dances.” On Monday, April 29, Lajimodiere will read from her children’s book at the Fargo Public Library, starting at 6 p.m., as part of North Dakota Center for the Book’s “Great Reads from Great Places.”
“I always knew I wanted to write this book,” Lajimodiere said. “The story's been rattling around in my brain for nearly 45 years. So I just sat down one day and said, ‘I have to do this.’”
“Josie Dances” is a tale of a young Ojibwe girl’s preparations for her first powwow and the help she receives from her family and Migizi, the eagle.
The story is based on Lajimodiere’s own daughter, Josette, attending a powwow.
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“When she was about four or five years old, she stepped out of our teepee, and she saw a crow — a big bird flying at tree level. And she lifted her little hands up, and she said, ‘Me, me. Take me.’ Well, she turns 50 this year. So, I've held on to this story for a long time,” Lajimodiere said.
Published by Minnesota Historical Society Press in 2021 and illustrated by Angela Erdrich, the book was selected was selected to represent North Dakota during the 2023 National Book Festival. Both Lajimodiere and Erdrich are enrolled citizens of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.
“It just blew me away,” said Lajimodiere, whose book was one of just two works selected from North Dakota for the festival, sponsored by the Library of Congress. Lajimodiere attended the event, held in August in Washington, D.C., as a representative of North Dakota.
“Thousands and thousands of people were at that event … That was just an incredible experience,” Lajimodiere said.
This is Lajimodiere’s first children’s book, who has poetry collections published as well as the academic book “Stringing Rosaries: The History, The Unforgivable, The Healing of Northern Plains Boarding School Survivors.”
Lajimodiere found encouragement in attending workshops from the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators.
“It’s not easy writing a children's book. We did a lot of revisions for even just 700 words,” Lajimodiere said. “It's just different sides of the brain that I need to balance.”
This is also the first children’s book illustrated by Erdrich, a close friend of Lajimodiere.
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“I had asked Angie, because I had stayed in her home many times and seen her outstanding gorgeous watercolor paintings that she did, hanging on her walls. I knew she'd be perfect,” Lajimodiere said.
After the manuscript was accepted by Minnesota Historical Society Press, the process took about four years to complete, Lajimodiere said.
“We had so we had a lot of fun collaborating — you know, what should the Aunties wear? Well, a ribbon skirt. What should Grandma Whitewalker wear? Well, a jingle dress ... At the end, I wanted her fringe to look like the tips of eagle wings, and on the last page, she really is dancing like an eagle. That's her name — Young Eagle Woman.”
“Josie Dances” is rich with cultural traditions, regalia, and ceremony of the Ojibwe people.
“The first time we bring our children into the arena, we have an introduction ceremony, sort of an honor ceremony to announce to all the dancers and all the people at the powwow that she is entering into the arena and to come welcome her. So that's what I did.”
Poetry for the people
In 2023, Lajimodiere was appointed North Dakota’s poet laureate, succeeding Larry Woiwode, of Carrington, North Dakota, who passed away in 2022 after holding the position for three decades. She is the state’s third poet laureate and the first Native American to hold the position, which is an honorary post appointed by state lawmakers.
North Dakota began naming a poet laureate in 1957. The position “promotes reading, writing, and an appreciation of poetry through public appearances and teaching opportunities across the state,” according to the North Dakota Council on the Arts.
Lajimodiere’s term will end in 2025, and she has been instrumental in helping the council evolve the appointment to two years, ensuring more poets have opportunities to represent poetry at the highest level in the state.
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“My poetry — it's very healing. There's a lot of grief work that's gone into my poems. Some of them are difficult to read, people say. But it's been very healing for me.”
Lajimodiere holds a doctoral degree in educational leadership from the University of North Dakota and was an educator at North Dakota State University for 12 years before retiring in 2018. During that time, she resided in Moorhead, but maintained her home in Belcourt on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in northcentral North Dakota.
For Lajimodiere, her stories are coming easier. “Because I'm retired, I have the time,” she said. And, she recently built a dedicated writing studio on her property in Belcourt, overlooking Fish Lake.
“I just adore it in there. It's quiet, peaceful, no distractions, and I can just sit and write.”
Retirement has been fruitful so far, and Lajimodiere is working on her next book of poems, recently accepted an offer for her middle grade novel and is close to a deal on her second children’s book.
“And I have another one rattling around in my brain that I haven’t even started,” Lajimodiere said.
If You Go
What: Josie Dances Book Reading with Author Denise Lajimodiere
When: Monday, April 29, 6 p.m.
Where: Main Library, 101 Fourth St. N., Fargo
Who: All ages are welcome. No registration required. The North Dakota Great Reads from Great Places program for the National Book Festival is sponsored by the Library of Congress and the North Dakota Center for the Book. For more information, call Children’s Services at (701) 241-1495.
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