Denise Sweet is an Anishinaabe

Anishinaabe

Anishinaabe or Anishinabe—or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek, which is the plural form of the word—is the autonym often used by the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonquin peoples. They all speak closely related Anishinaabemowin/Anishinaabe languages, of the Algonquian language family.The meaning...

 poet and a holds a doctorate in Humanistic Studies. She taught creative writing

Creative writing

Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...

, literature and mythology, at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

The University of Wisconsin–Green Bay is a public university located in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and offers both bachelor and master degrees....

, but retired in 2009. She also taught a travel seminar in the Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatán Peninsula

The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...

 and Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

 involving fieldwork among the Mayan peoples. Sweet was named the Wisconsin Poet Laureate

Poet Laureate

A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...

for 2004-08.

Awards

• Diane Decorah Award for Poetry
• Posner Award for Poetry
• Woman of the Year Award from the Wisconsin Women's Council.
• Outstanding Woman of Color Award from the University of Wisconsin system
• Native Writers' Circle of the Americas
  Native Writers' Circle of the Americas
  The Native Writers' Circle of the Americas is an organization of Native American writers, most notable for its literary awards, presented annually to Native American writers in three categories: First Book of Poetry, First Book of Prose, and Lifetime Achievement...
  
  First Book Award for Poetry

Online Poetry

• Song for Discharming
• Right of Way

Books by Denise Sweet

• Songs for Discharming, Greenfield Review Press.
• Days of Obsidian, Days of Grace, with Adrian Louis, Al Hunter, and Jim Northrup, 1994,

Poetry Harbor Press

• Know By Heart, 1992.

Anthologies

• Nitaawichige: Selected Poetry and Prose by Four Anishinaabe Writers, with Jim Northrup, Marcie Rendon &, Linda Legarde Grover, Poetry Harbor.
• Stories Migrating Home: Anishnaabe Prose, Kimberly Blaeser (Editor),

Loonfeather Press: Wisconsin

• Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writing of North America,

Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird (Editors), W.W. Norton.

• Returning the Gift: Poetry and Prose from the First North American Native Writers' Festival,

(Sun Tracks Books, No 29) University of Arizona Press.

• Women Brave in the Face of Danger: Photographs of and Writings by Latin and North American Women, Margaret Randall, Crossing Press.