Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and brought up in Oak Ridge, Awiakta creates a unique weaving of her Cherokee/Appalachian heritages with science to express her basic theme: respect for the web of life. National and international recognition for her work began in 1978 with her first book, Abiding Appalachia: Where Mountain and Atom Meet. She has been featured in three TV films for PBS. Her third book, Selu: Seeking the Corn Mother's Wisdom, was a 1994 Quality Paperback Book Club Selection. A quote from Selu is engraved in the Riverwall of the Bicentennial Capitol Mall in Nashville, and her poem, "Motheroot," is inlaid in the Fine Arts Walkway at UCLA. Awiakta graduated magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee in 1958 and recently received an honorary Doctorate of Human Letters from Albion College in Michigan.