Oak Lake Writers' Society

The Oak Lake Writers’ Society was founded in the early 1990s in Brookings, South Dakota, through the efforts of Dakota scholar and writer Elizabeth Cook-Lynn and colleagues at South Dakota State University. The organization emerged from a series of writers’ gatherings and retreats held at the university’s Oak Lake Field Station, located north of Brookings. These gatherings brought together Indigenous writers from across the Northern Plains to share work, discuss literary traditions, and address issues related to Native representation in literature and scholarship.

The society was established to support and promote the work of Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota writers and to encourage the development of Indigenous literary voices in the region. Through workshops, readings, and collaborative discussion, the group created a forum where writers could explore topics such as tribal history, cultural identity, sovereignty, and the preservation of oral traditions through written forms. The Oak Lake retreats provided an important space for mentorship and professional development, connecting established writers with emerging authors from tribal communities throughout South Dakota and neighboring states.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the Oak Lake Writers’ Society organized annual writers’ retreats and related programs that emphasized Indigenous perspectives in literature and scholarship. Participants included poets, fiction writers, historians, and scholars whose work addressed the cultural, political, and historical experiences of Native nations in the Northern Plains. The organization contributed to the broader development of Native literary studies and helped strengthen networks among Indigenous writers and intellectuals.

Over time, the society’s mission expanded to reflect the collective identity of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota peoples, known collectively as the Oceti Šakówiŋ, or Seven Council Fires. The organization eventually adopted the name Oceti Sakowin Writers Society, continuing its work of supporting Indigenous writers and promoting literature grounded in the histories, cultures, and contemporary experiences of the Oceti Šakówiŋ nations. Today, the organization continues to sponsor writers’ retreats and literary initiatives that encourage the preservation and advancement of Indigenous storytelling and scholarship.