Kim Shuck is a Cherokee Nation poet, author, weaver, and bead work artist who draws from Southeastern Native American culture and tradition as well as contemporary urban Indian life.[1] She was born in
San Francisco, California and belongs to the northern California Cherokee diaspora. She is an enrolled citizen of the
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and also has
Sac and Fox and
Polish ancestry.[2] She earned a B.A. in art (1994), and M.F.A. in Textiles (1998) from
San Francisco State University. Her basket weaving work is influenced by her grandmother Etta Mae Rowe and the long history of California Native American basket making.[1]
She has taught American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University and was an artist in residence at the
de Young Museum in June 2010 with
Michael Horse.[3]
On June 21, 2017, Mayor
Ed Lee named Shuck as the 7th
poet laureate of San Francisco.
Awards
2022 COSTO Medal from University of California Riverside
2019 National Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets[4]