Eyes Closed: Our Children Are Dreaming

Description

Anchorage is among the most diverse cities in the United States. Children speaking more than one hundred different languages call it their home. Under its sky, they dream at night and tell stories during the day. These children’s origins are so far-flung that a world atlas of dreams and stories could be built from their testimony. Eyes Closed is such an atlas. It comprises the dreams of 19 children from different ethnic and religious communities. Eyes Closed is a celebration of heritage, hope, and imagination.

About the Author:
Gabriela Olmos / writer Gabriela Olmos + Shirley Mae Springer Staten / project coordinators

Gabriela Olmos has written 12 children’s books in Mexico, one in Canada, and one in the United States. Her books have inspired exhibits, plays, and television spots promoting literacy. Gabriela has written fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Her articles, short stories, and poems have appeared in periodicals in Mexico, France, and the United States. She has translated literary and academic texts and compiled anthologies of poetry. In 2009 Gabriela was featured among six Mexican writers profiled in the French magazine La Revue des Livres pour Enfants. Eight of her books have been chosen for public education programs in Mexico. Two of them were selected for the A Leer / IBBY Mexico Guide. In 2013, the Smithsonian Asia Pacific American Center recommended Gabriela’s book I Dreamt. In 2016 The Latino Author chose it to head its list of the top ten books of the year. In 2019 Gabriela received the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz / Alaska Award, in the context of the festival Woman Scream: International Women’s Poetry Movement, chapter Anchorage. Recently, Venezuelan organization Banco del Libro included Gabriela’s book Palabras Como Hilos in its exhibit featuring the best Spanish books for the year. PROJECT COORDINATORS: GABRIELA OLMOS + SHIRLEY MAE SPRINGER STATEN Shirley Mae Springer Staten has many years of experience with multicultural artistic projects. She is the author of a children’s book, a teacher, a motivational speaker, an organizer, and a recording artist. Ms. Staten left Moultrie, Georgia at age 17 to work as a VISTA Volunteer in New Mexico and a teaching assistant in Los Angeles. Three summers of work in Fairbanks brought her to Alaska, and she moved to Anchorage in 1981. As an actress and keynote speaker, Shirley Mae has impacted many lives, weaving stories and songs to inspire women in prison, disadvantaged youth, young Native women, UAA graduate students, Anchorage School District teachers, and women across the world. Shirley Mae has worked on the international stage as the Cultural Events Coordinator for the United Nations/NGO Women’s Conference in New York and Beijing. She developed and organized groups traveling to the International Women’s Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. She organized the One World International Choir’s tours to Cuba and China. And she led a visit by Anchorage students to Ghana. Ms. Staten traveled across the Soviet Union with the Alaska Performing Artists for Peace. She has performed at the French Embassy in Djibouti and at the American Embassy in Ethiopia. She has given concerts in China, Cuba, Europe, India, and South America. Shirley Mae holds an Associate’s Degree in Human Services, a B.A. in Human Resource Development, and an M.S. in Spiritual Psychology, University of Santa Monica, California.