Guam native Craig Santos Perez is the first Pacific Islander to win the prestigious National Book Award for Poetry — and the first Pacific Islander to win in any category.
"So I just assumed I wasn't gonna win, so I didn't prepare a speech or anything," he said.
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa English professor accepted the award in New York City two weeks ago. The ceremony was attended by leaders in the literary world and celebrities like Oprah Winfrey. Five category winners each received $10,000.
"When they announced my book as the winner, I was pretty shocked. I was not prepared at all. It took me a couple minutes just to even stand up from the table, and to walk on stage."
![The cover of "from unincorporated territory [åmot]" by Craig Santos Perez features his late grandmother playing bingo.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/d19e7d7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/860x1290+0+0/resize/840x1260!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff2%2Ff8%2Fbabd93224b33b99a000df62ca3c5%2Fperez.jpg)
At the last second, he decided to read from his award-winning book, “from unincorporated territory [åmot]." Here's an excerpt:
"So the next time someone tells you
islanders were illiterate, teach them
about our visual literacies, about how we
still read and write the intertextual sacredness
of all things. And always remember: if you can
write the ocean we will never be silenced."
Åmot is the Chamorro word for medicine. His poems center on healing from colonialism, militarization and environmental injustice.
Guam or Guåhan is an "unincorporated territory" of the U.S. where the struggles of political self-determination are still being played out. Residents of Guam are U.S. citizens but don’t have a vote in Congress.
Throughout his career, Perez has written about the colonial history and politics of Guam, as well as the experiences, struggles, traumas and triumphs of the Chamorro people.
"As I became an adult and learned more about colonialism and became more radicalized, then I started discovering that poetry is also a very powerful form through which to express political opinions as well as a way to honor my ancestors and where I come from," Perez said.
He shared that publishers over the years have said there was no market for Pacific Island literature, much less about a tiny island the world knew little about.
"Being on that stage and receiving the National Book Award I hope will inspire other Pacific Islanders to know that there are people interested in our stories, and that it's important for us to continue to tell our stories and histories and cultures to not only inspire our own peoples, but also of course to raise awareness on a national and global audience," Perez told HPR.
His next poetry book, "Mutiny," is set to be published in 2024.
Editor's note: Perez is the nephew of The Conversation host Catherine Cruz.
This story aired on The Conversation on Nov. 30, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Sophia McCullough adapted this story for the web.
