Psite ehpicik kcipokehtuwannuk – We Honor All Women

Presenters

• Mihku Paul

Presenter Information

Mihku Paul is a Wolastoqey (Maliseet) elder and knowledge keeper who grew up on the banks of the Penobscot river. Her family hails from Kingsclear, NB First Nation in Canada. The author of 20th Century Powwow Playland, she is a writer and poet by profession, as well as a food sovereignty grower and consultant and, like many Waponahki women, an artist and beadworker. She attended the University of Maine Farmington and UMaine Orono before completing her BA at the University of Southern Maine, with concentrations in Communication and Human Development, Magna Cum Laude in 1993. At the age of fifty, she entered USM’s Stonecoast MFA program, earning her master’s degree, then went on to publish, leveraging both her visual art and poetry to increase awareness of Waponahki culture and presence in Maine. 

Mihku is executive editor at Dawnland Voices 2.0, an online journal dedicated to Indigenous literature in northern New England. For several decades she has taught Waponahki Studies and curriculum enrichment in Portland Public Schools. She created an Indigenous seed saving project, Skoniminol Kuliwot or “Good Seed,” and protects open pollinated seed for distribution. Mihku also serves on the board of Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance and the Traditional Arts Network at Mayo Street Arts. Her visual art has graced the cover of MELUS (Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the United States), and she serves in a Waponahki arts collective known as Spinning Wampum. Her creative work now spans film as well, with the experimental film Putep Potatokot-te Elewestaq “The Whale was Speaking” to address climate change. Mihku lives and works in Portland.

Location

Ketchum Library, Biddeford

Link to Event Website

Donna M. Loring Lecture Series

Start Date

16-10-2026 2:00 PM

End Date

16-10-2026 3:30 PM

Streaming Media

Description

During this time when women’s rights are being eroded and women’s historical accomplishments are being suppressed, we must have productive conversations about why this is happening and what can be done to support and protect the rights of women as full participants in society and culture. This event provides a space for such dialogue and creative collaboration. As a Waponahki woman, Mihku Paul is acutely aware of the historic oppression of Maine’s Indigenous peoples and the societal forces impeding their expressive freedoms and professional growth.

Here in the Dawnland, Waponahki women have achieved impressive milestones in support of their communities and in their professional lives that continue to influence social, political, educational, and artistic arenas in Maine and beyond. To honor these women, and all women, as we strive to maintain equity within the changing landscape of American society, Mihku Paul envisions “Profiles of Waponahki Women,” a project that will bring together community members, students, historians, and others toward this goal. This talk will offer a preview of what that project might entail. Mihku, well known for her poetry, will also share a topical poem written especially for this occasion.