SOURCE: "Connected to the Past," in Survival This Way: Interviews with Native American Poets, Sun Tracks and The University of Arizona Press, 1987, pp. 337-48.

Bruchac is an Abenaki poet, short story writer, novelist, author of children's books, editor, educator, and critic. In the following excerpt, Young Bear discusses the development of his literary style and his use of Indian heritage and oral traditions in the composition of his works.

[Bruchac]: Ray, I'd like to ask you a couple of very simple questions. First, when did you start writing?

[Young Bear]: I think in 1964, to be exact. I was in seventh grade then, and we were given an assignment by the English teacher to compose an essay on our family lives or something to that effect. So, I went home and wrote my paper—or what I thought was a paper—and the next day I went back to...