From the Archives: Sun Tracks

July 30, 2026

As we prepare to publish This Music: Record of a Poet Becoming, the one hundredth volume in the Sun Tracks series, we want to take a moment to remember the origins of this award-winning series.

Today we share a special feature, diving into the archives and traveling 55 years into the past for a look at our history and our authors.

Cover of Sun Tracks literary quarterly (June 1971) featuring a sketch of a person with raised arms on a yellow background.

Launched in 1971, Sun Tracks was one of the first publishing programs to focus exclusively on the creative works of Native Americans. The series has included more than eighty volumes of poetry, prose, art, and photography by such distinguished artists as Joy Harjo, N. Scott Momaday, Simon J. Ortiz, Carter Revard, and Luci Tapahonso.

Table of contents page from Sun Tracks showing staff listings and a vertical Indigenous illustrated totem design along the left margin. — Staff, table of contents, and contributors from the first volume of *Sun Tracks*.

Open book spread with poems and simple line drawings, including a deer, tipi, bird, and two stylized figures. — Art and text from *Sun Tracks* Volume 1 (June 1971)

Title page of Sun Tracks Volume 1, Number 3 (Spring 1972), featuring a central feathered emblem and a University of Arizona library stamp. — Art and text from *Sun Tracks* Volume 1 (June 1971)

Open book spread with a line drawing of a ceremonial figure on the left page and the Sun Tracks Fall 1975 table of contents on the right page. — *Sun Tracks* Volume 2, no. 1 (Fall 1975). Note that the list of contributors includes Simon J. Ortiz, whose newest book, *Light as Light*, was published with the University of Arizona Press in 2023.

“Submission of Materials” page outlining Sun Tracks contributor guidelines and publication mission statement. — Submission guidelines from *Sun Tracks* Volume 1, no. 2 (Fall 1971)

Open Sun Tracks spread featuring a photograph of two children holding patterned cups and the Spring 1977 table of contents page — *Sun Tracks* Volume 3, no. 2 (Spring 1977)

Order form page for Sun Tracks back issues, with checkboxes, mailing address lines, and payment options. — “Dear Suntracks…” In a pre-digital era, ordering a copy of the journal required readers to mail in their orders. Adjusted for inflation, a $5 issue in 1979 would run about $23 in 2026.

Do you have a project that might be a good fit for the Sun Tracks series? Learn more about submitting a proposal or manuscript for consideration.

The University of Arizona Press

From the Archives: Sun Tracks

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