Program Events

An Evening with Tommy Orange

March 3, 6:00 p.m.
Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts Thrust Theatre

Informal Q&A with the author at 2:00 p.m. in UW's Cooper House

Tommy Orange is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel There There, a multi-generational, relentlessly paced story about a side of America few of us have ever seen: the lives of urban Native Americans. There There was one of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year, and won the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize and the Pen/Hemingway Award. There There was also longlisted for the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Orange graduated from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and was a 2014 MacDowell Fellow and a 2016 Writing by Writers Fellow. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He was born and raised in Oakland, California.

This event is sponsored by UW's Creative Writing program, the Department of English, Native American and Indigenous Studies, the Native American Program, and WIHR.  

Indigenous Words: A Book Club and Creative Writing Series

Storytelling is an important cultural element in many Indigenous communities which has expanded to encompass all kinds of tellings. In this series, we will explore three different works of fiction by Indigenous writers and use each book to explore different worldviews and identities.

Each discussion will be moderated by a creative writer and will include generative writing prompts, sharing, and discussion.

Indigenous Words will meet the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm in the Albany County Public Library Large Meeting Room.

Books are available at the Albany County Public Library and Coe Library. Refreshments will be provided.

• March 1, 2022: There There by Tommy Orange

• April 5, 2022: Sabrina and Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

• May 2, 2022: The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones