Description

• Nimipuutímpt, the language of the Nez Perce, is a critically endangered language, with fewer than 50 fluent speakers left in the world.

• Swallowed Light is written in both English and Nimipuutímpt.

• When asked to come up with a reason why he writes, Wasson said “I write because all my storytellers are dead.”

• This poetry is opulent and dreamlike, rich and visceral. The world Wasson creates is a world one cannot help but be drawn into.

• With this first full-length collection, Wasson is an exciting emerging voice in contemporary poetry.

• Wasson wrote Swallowed Light from the Japanese village in which he currently lives. He has a complex relationship with the idea of home, telling LitHub “I long to earn my way towards some sense of home.”

• Wasson grew up on the Nez Perce reservation, raised mostly by his grandfather.

• He names Natalie Diaz, Ocean Vuong, Eduardo C. Corral, and Sherwin Bitsui as major influences on his poetry.