 | |
Professor of English
Eric L. Gansworth lives life as an outsider. An Onondaga Indian, Gansworth holds on to his deep-rooted Native heritage while he lives and works within a much larger and more dominant American culture. “It’s as if I float among different groups but do not necessarily belong to any one of them,” he explains.
But it provides the perfect vantage point for Gansworth’s work as a writer and an artist.
The Canisius College professor of English and Lowery Writer-in-Residence is a celebrated storyteller. His writings are published in three novels, two collections of poetry, an anthology and a cross-genre book, which includes essays, poems and paintings. In November 2008, he debuted his first full-length play, entitled “Re-Creation Story,” at the Native Theater Festival in New York City.
Gansworth’s books also feature his own artwork, which is equally celebrated. Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, the Burchfield Penney Arts Center and the Castellani Art Museum have all exhibited his paintings. “In every form, Eric’s work is utterly convincing,” says colleague Mick Cochrane, PhD, professor of English and Lowery Writer in Residence. “It all feels true.”
Perhaps that is because Gansworth draws on his own personal experiences. His prose and poetry are set on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation. His indigenous characters are impoverished and live in small, neglected homes, much like the home in which Gansworth grew up.
Still, Gansworth’s protagonists live lives rich in things that matter most to him and the Indian community. They hail from large extended and tightly-woven families. The Tuscarora Reservation remains the central point of their world. And they adhere tightly to their tribal history and heritage, despite mainstream pressures and perceptions.
“The closer characters appear to be real people, the more convincing the ideas and writing,” says Gansworth, whose vividness and candor have earned him numerous literary accolades.
His poem “Holding the Shell to My Ear” was nominated for a prestigious Pushcart Prize, which honors the best poetry, short fiction and essays published annually by small presses. His novel Mending Skins won the PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles National Literary Award, which recognizes excellence in multicultural literature. And A Half-Life of Cardio-Pulmonary Function, Gansworth’s collection of poems and paintings, ranked number three on the National Book Critics Circle spring 2008 “Good Reads List.”
At Canisius, Gansworth’s contributions have helped grow the college’s creative writing minor and strengthen the English Department, overall. Students not only learn to write creatively from someone who does it most successfully, they also receive a unique perspective about Native history, heritage and culture.
So while the writer and artist in Gansworth prefer to remain on the periphery, the educator in him is actively engaged in teaching the next generation of creative writers. In a sense, Eric Gansworth’s two identities are one at Canisius, and that makes him an integral part of the college community.