Since Tahlequah, Oklahoma is only 30 miles from the Arkansas border, we relate mostly to U.S. Southern culture. Why do I mention my hometown? It’s not only the place where I live, work, and raise my family. It’s also home to two Cherokee tribal governments: Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees. I personally work for Cherokee Nation in the Indian Child Welfare Department. Additionally, the third Cherokee government is the Eastern Band of Cherokees in North Carolina. All this to say, Cherokees are the largest federally recognized tribe in the United States and our governments are historically situated in the South. So why don’t we exist in the canon of Southern literature?
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Debut Novel 14 Years of Ups and Downs: How CALLING FOR A BLANKET DANCE Survived, Endured, and Finally Came to Being
I’m always drawn to these stories. Of the writer who wrote for decades to finally find her way onto a bookshelf. I’m drawn to them because I feel for what the writer has endured and the level of gratitude that comes along with it. It’s rough out there. We’re all tough. You can’t endure the writing process without thickening your hide with a multitude of scars. There are many talented writers. When it all comes together, when your hard work finally meets opportunity, you can’t help but find yourself in a gracious meditation on the trials and tribulations of creating your work of art.
Read More »Tommy Orange’s Praise for Oscar Hokeah’s Debut Novel, CALLING FOR A BLANKET DANCE
As many of you already know, I’ve been out of the loop. Also many of you know about my debut novel. I had been promoting it on my social media constantly for months after it released in late July 2022. Then tragedy hit my family. I became distracted and consumed by my little sister’s well being. I deleted all my social media. In the last few days, I’ve had a little more time to come back to this layer of the multiverse. Guess what I stumbled upon? Lit Hub released an article in the middle of December titled “88 Writers on the Books They Loved in 2022,” and I was shocked to find Tommy Orange’s praise for my debut.
Read More »Tips, Tricks, and Doodads: Watch Out for Exposition! It’s a Plot Killer!
I can’t tell you how much I hate exposition. I know hate is a strong word. But it kills my plot. There I am plotting along. Happy as can be. I love plot. Plotting along is my favorite thing to do. Then here comes “necessary info.” And in order to do my favorite thing I must engage with the thing I dislike the most.
Read More »Why I Vanished from Social Media
I wish I could say there was only one reason. But there was definitely a primary reason. The last two months have been a little rough for my family. My little sister had a major stroke. For those of you who’ve had a loved one go through this you’ll understand perfectly what I mean. It’s sudden, unexpected, and unfortunately my sister didn’t make it to the hospital in time to get the medication that would have saved her from the more severe damage. So there we were: a family in turmoil having to make major decisions regarding my sister’s life.
Read More »In Defense of Peripheral Narration: Fitzgerald Vs Hokeah in a Battle of Class, POV, and Power
Have you heard of a book called The Great Gatsby? It’s written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Most folks read it in high school. I didn’t make it to high school (the last grade I completed was the sixth grade) so I didn’t read it until I was an adult (after I went on to obtain a Master’s Degree). If you remember, the novel is told by a character, Nick Carraway, about another character, Jay Gatsby. The reason I’m bringing up this particular book is two fold: (1) It’s well known, and (2) it’s a popular example of peripheral narration, where one character tells the story of another character. Don’t worry this is not a rehearsal of Fitzgerald’s novel. Instead it’s an allusion to mine.
Read More »“Stunning” Novel Cover: Symbolic Representations in Post-Modern Art Forms
There are two questions I love most when it comes to talking about my debut novel. One has to do with the structure, with it’s polyvocality laid atop time jumps spanning three decades, and the other has to do with the cover. It’s a striking image. An image that conveys perfectly the post-modern fracture experienced by the main character, Ever Geimausaddle, and his resilient trek through the process of decolonization.
Read More »What it Means to Write Decolonization Literature & Why Native Writers Must Not Be Silenced
The process of decolonization. We hear this a lot, and if you’ve taken a Native studies class then you’ve likely thought about this in different aspects of society. So what does this look like in literature? I’d like to take a close look at decolonization and talk about the importance of allowing people of color to bear witness on the page, to show readers what it’s like to live through sometimes brutal circumstances, and to highlight the dangers of silencing people of color in a Neo-colonial program to whitewash our experiences.
Read More »Vernacular, Agency, & Intersectionality of Language Transformation
Growing up in households where words and phrases in both Kiowa and Cherokee were spoken and mixed with English, it gave me a unique understanding of language. As my family spoke, someone could be both skaw-stee and mon’sape. Skaw-stee is a Cherokee word that means “stuck up,” and mon’sape is a Kiowa word that means “trouble maker.” Mix these words with other phrases and Indigenized English words like gaa which is the Native version of “golly,” and all of a sudden language becomes a playground of agency. Where this Kiowa/Cherokee/Mexican boy had a canvas of words to create a beautiful new symmetry.
Read More »Intro to Literary Fiction: A Native American Writer’s Reasoning Toward Episodic Novel Writing & Unfamiliar Terms in Familiar Terrain
“What do you write?” Have you heard that question before? For literary writers this question is like a grain of dirt on the ass cheek of a wild hog running through the brush in the Ozark Hills. Every time I go to answer the question I know what’s going to follow. It’s going to be another question, with a quizzical expression on the questioner’s face, asking me, “What’s literary fiction?”
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Oscar Hokeah 