Best-selling Native American author David Treuer will present the College of Liberal Arts’ Festival of Ideas’ keynote address on Tuesday, March 4, 2024.  A professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California, Treuer is the author of seven books, including two novels. He gained national prominence with the release of Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life (2012), a memoir of his years growing up on the Ojibwe Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. His most recent book, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present (2019), was a New York Times’ best-seller and finalist for the 2019 National Book Award. Rejecting the traditional view of the Wounded Knee Massacre as the final chapter of the Indian story, Treuer carries the narrative into the modern era, discussing the importance of urban migration, casino gambling, and the digital age in the Native American experience. Adopting an approach that is both comprehensive and granular, Treuer “moves seamlessly back and forth from the Big Indian Story to the voices of living Indians,” writes one reviewer, “explaining to us, and to themselves, what it means to be Indian, American, and both at the same time.” 

Designed to appeal to a broad audience, the Festival of Ideas seeks to harness the power of the arts, humanities and social sciences to explore major, topical issues of interest to the UTA community and Dallas-Fort Worth area. Presented annually by the College of Liberal Arts, the Festival of Ideas began with a generous donation by UT Arlington alumnus Mustaque Ahmed (’81) in 2005. FOI keynote speakers have included authors, playwrights, artists, and community activists. For more information, contact: swcenter@uta.edu