Maria – Ruby Hansen Murray
2016 Jack Straw Writer Ruby Hansen Murray‘s novel The Heart Stays People tells the story of Maria, a 16-year-old Osage girl raised by Cherokee who longs for her own people and doesn’t know what to do next. She talks with Curator Karen Finneyfrock about the challenges of creating an original story that reflects history accurately. “I feel compelled to . . . do the best I can to understand how people saw the world at that time and to convey what their decisions might have been. I also feel compelled to write a strong narrative which frees itself from real people and what might have happened or what did happen.”
Music by Seattle Jazz Composers Ensemble, produced as part of the Jack Straw Artist Support Program.
