One of the few contemporary Native American poets who writes bilingual poetry, Lance Henson has received international recognition for his knowledge of Cheyenne language and culture and his skill as a poet in English. Seventeen collections of his poetry have been published, including five that appeared in Europe with translations into German, Frisian, and Italian. Having traveled and read widely, Henson acknowledges influences from European, Latin American, and Oriental literature; but he remains Cheyenne in his basic outlook, returning to Oklahoma each June for the Sun Dance. In a 1993 article Maura McDermott quotes Henson as saying, "Western Oklahoma will always be my home." He served as an official representative of the Southern Cheyenne Nation at the European Free Alliance in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, in 1985 and at the United Nations Indigenous People's Conference in Geneva in 1988.

Of Cheyenne, Oglala, and French ancestry, Lance David Henson was born in Washington, D...