The La Pointes will discuss the newly rereleased edition of Vi Hilbert’s Haboo, a collection of thirty-three stories and legends of the Lushootseed-speaking people of Puget Sound.

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The La Pointes will discuss the newly rereleased edition of Vi Hilbert’s Haboo, a collection of thirty-three stories and legends of the Lushootseed-speaking people of Puget Sound.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The stories and legends of the Lushootseed-speaking people of Puget Sound represent an important part of the oral tradition by which one generation hands down beliefs, values, and customs to another. Vi Hilbert grew up when many of the old social patterns survived and everyone spoke the ancestral language.

Haboo, Hilbert’s collection of thirty-three stories, features tales mostly set in the Myth Age, before the world transformed. Animals, plants, trees, and even rocks had human attributes. Prominent characters like Wolf, Salmon, and Changer and tricksters like Mink, Raven, and Coyote populate humorous, earthy stories that reflect foibles of human nature, convey serious moral instruction, and comically detail the unfortunate, even disastrous consequences of breaking taboos.

Beautifully redesigned and with a new foreword by Jill La Pointe, Haboo offers a vivid and invaluable resource for linguists, anthropologists, folklorists, future generations of Lushootseed-speaking people, and others interested in Native languages and cultures.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Jill tsisquał La Pointe is director of Lushootseed Research and granddaughter of Vi taqšəblu Hilbert.

Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is a Coast Salish author from the Nooksack and Upper Skagit tribes. She received her MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts with a focus on creative nonfiction and poetry. She is the great granddaughter of Vi taqwšəblu Hilbert and her namesake. Her memoir, Red Paint is forthcoming from Counterpoint Press.

Upper Skagit tribal elder Vi taqšəblu Hilbert (1918–2008) received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts in 1994, taught language classes at the University of Washington, and cowrote the Lushootseed Dictionary.

PRAISE:

“Engaging, entertaining, and informative. . . Recommended.”―Choice

“Hilbert writes interestingly and informatively about the storytellers and the culture that produced the tales. . . . This carefully edited collection makes a significant contribution.”―Journal of the West

View in Catalog: Haboo

The event is presented in partnership with Elliott Bay Book Company. This event is supported by The Seattle Public Library Foundation, author series sponsors the Gary and Connie Kunis Foundation, and Seattle City of Literature. Thanks to media sponsor The Seattle Times.