@MontanaState with author Tommy Orange

BOZEMAN - Tommy Orange, an author whose novels chronicle contemporary Native American life, will speak at Montana State University's First Year Student Convocation on Tuesday as part of the university's formal welcome of the incoming class.

Orange is an acclaimed writer whose 2018 debut novel, "There There," follows 12 contemporary Native Americans in Oakland, California, as their lives collide in the days leading up to the city's inaugural Big Oakland Powwow. The multigenerational saga won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the American Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His second novel, "Wandering Stars," was published in February.

The New York Times called "There There" "a new kind of American epic" and hailed Orange - a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma who was born and raised in Oakland - as "part of a new generation of acclaimed Indigenous writers from the United States and Canada who are shattering old tropes and stereotypes about Native American literature, experience and identity.

"These writers are radically reshaping the Native canon, with stylistically and thematically diverse works that reflect a broad range of influences," the Times continued.

Orange's talk at MSU is set for 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. The event is open to the public and tickets are not required.

Before his visit, Orange spoke with MSU News about his impressions of Montana, his intentions as a writer, and the power of stories.

MSU News: Have you ever been to Montana? If so, what were your impressions of it? If not, what are your impressions of Montana from afar?

Orange: In some ways I started taking writing seriously for the first time in Montana. In the summer of 2009, I'd saved up money and quit my job then moved to southern Oregon where rent was cheap to try to write as much as I could. While there I got into my very first Writers-in-Residency program. This was in Basin, Montana. My girlfriend and now wife picked me up in Oregon and drove me to Basin - actually dropped me off in Bozeman where I stayed in a hostel for a night before taking a bus to Basin. My wife went to college in Helena at Carroll College so she was familiar with and loved the state. I tried to write my first novel at the residency and failed. But I loved my time there, and think Montana is a beautiful state. I have Northern Cheyenne relatives that live in Montana, mostly Lame Deer, I think. I'm not close to them. I was there again in 2023 to do some events with the National Book Award, and got to see parts of the state I'd never seen before. And in 2022 I was in Missoula for the first James Welch Literary Festival, which I very much enjoyed.

Your first novel, "There There" - which won the Pen/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2019 - follows 12 characters from Native communities in the lead-up to a powwow at a stadium in Oakland, Calif., where tragedy strikes. What inspired this story? What was your approach to writing it?

I worked in the Native community in Oakland for almost a decade. And I grew up in Oakland. I thought of the idea for the novel in a single moment on a drive to my pregnant wife in 2010. I started writing it in earnest at the beginning of 2012. I was a new father and worked full time, so I woke up early to write, and read parts of it as it came out to my wife on the back steps of our apartment in Oakland. I wanted to tell an urban Native story, and one that felt personal, and one that explored Native identity, but also kept you wanting to find out what would happen next, that made you want to keep reading.

Who do you write for?

I write toward readability. I want to create beauty and be clear about what I'm saying, and tell a good story. But I don't ever have a particular audience in mind. I'm happy "There There" is being taught in schools now, at high schools and in universities. When I'm writing and revising though, I'm really just wanting to create a rich and layered and readable reading experience for whomever might be reading.

On a related note, what do you set out to write? Stories? Social commentary? Other? Or is it some combination, whether by intent or, perhaps, because the aims of writing are not so clear cut?

Mostly I want to tell good stories, but I also want to be saying something, so not pure fantasy or escape, but something that makes you feel things related to the very real and difficult world we live in. Sometimes the aims of writing are not clear cut at all. I think with all art there shouldn't be too much planning or handling, so that you can allow things to come through you would never have thought to create in the first place.

Your new novel, "Wandering Stars," considers the fallout of colonization and the forced assimilation of Native Americans. It has been described as part prequel, part sequel to "There There," yet also as a work that wholly stands on its own. How do you
characterize this book?

I would agree it's a prequel and sequel but also stands on its own. It's a much different book than "There There." It's slower. Covers a much larger span of time. I wanted to write a different book. With the fear of the sophomore slump and the fear of a doomed sequel, the last thing I wanted to do was the same thing again. I'm still hoping no one experiences the second book as more of the same.

You are a graduate of the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. How has education influenced the course of your life? What would you say to students at MSU - particularly American Indian students - about the value of higher education?

I was not a good student. I peaked in the sixth grade, I think. But I had a lot going on at home. I didn't really start reading and writing fiction until after I graduated with an undergrad in sound engineering in 2005. I was 23. And just discovered for the first time that I loved fiction. Then I wrote on my own as much as I could for the next nine years until I got into the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. I had an amazing experience there. And had great experiences at community college, and at the sound engineering school. I think sometimes you don't know what you don't know, and you have to trust that an education will provide more than you know it will, will enrich your life in ways you could never imagine. It can't just be toward getting a good job. That's not how the world works anymore anyway. The value is in the experience, and in who you meet, and in the vast amount that you learn, across different fields. You'll get more than it will feel like you're getting during individual classes. Your brain will synthesize the many, many things you learn. I think you have to trust that.

Enrollment of American Indian students is growing at MSU, and the university opened its new American Indian Hall in 2021. What do you think can be done in higher education to help give Native students the best chance at success?

I'm so happy to hear about growing enrollment. I think recruitment of Native students has always been a problem. So I'm glad to hear there's growth. I think resources for Native students who might be the first in their family to go to college are important, and helping to ease the formulation of Native clubs or organizations to better help them help each other and create community.

You trained to work as a sound engineer but began writing fiction after working in a used bookstore, where you have said you read novels that inspired you. What drew you to reading in the first place? What novels inspired you then, and what inspires you now?

Honestly I was inspired by being able to find whatever fiction drew me in naturally, without an authority telling me what was good or important to read. I came to reading and writing completely on my own. I read a lot of translated works from around the world. I would follow publishers rather than authors. Some of the first writers I loved were Clarice Lispector, Franz Kafka, Jorge Luis Borges and Robert Walser. Later Louise Erdrich became very important to me. And I was lucky enough to meet her for the first time in person in Missoula in 2022. I read a lot of contemporary fiction. I like to see what's happening with the form. What new things people are doing. That inspires me, but so does good TV and movies. Music, always, I listen to music 90% of the time that I write.

What are you working on professionally now? What goals do you have for the future?

I'm finishing my third novel, and finishing a screenplay for a feature film for a studio I can't yet name. I hope to keep writing as much as I can before AI takes over all creative work and people just type into prompts the stuff they want to experience for art and entertainment. I'm joking but I'm not; it's a real fear and possibility.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

Spend time with family. I run long distance. I play roller hockey. Watch movies. Eat at good restaurants. Travel. Read.

The New York Times published a story in March detailing the deep connections some high school students in the Bronx felt to characters in your stories. What do you understand about the power of stories? What impact can they have in the world today?

Stories have and always will be vital to the human experience. It dictates the way we structure everything. I have been so very grateful that my stories, that "There There" specifically, has been embraced by young people and is being taught to high school and college students all over the country. I have even heard on more than a dozen occasions that "There There" has made a student become a reader for the first time. To me this is the highest compliment. I think stories have the capacity to change minds. Across fields. Stories connect people to emotion and meaning in ways that data and facts and histories often fail to.

What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?

Treat writing like you would any other discipline. It is a muscle. And it rewards devotion. Just like practicing a free throw and seeing yourself get better, or a musical instrument, when you put in the time, you'll see it pay off. If you get stuck and feel you are blocked question whether the block is real or just a myth spread by people to procrastinate, as if writer's block were a real disease, instead of an excuse to not take writing as seriously as other disciplines.

Your talk at MSU kicks off the university's academic year and is part of MSU's formal welcome of the incoming freshman class. What do you hope people - and especially students - will take away from your talk?

Mostly I hope I don't embarrass myself. And I hope they come away feeling hopeful and inspired and excited about their first year in college. I hope they're excited to read lots of books and learn lots of things because that is exactly what they're here for, and what will be asked of them.

Final question - what are three books you would recommend to students, and why?

I have some trouble recommending books generally. I would say read Toni Morrison. Read Louise Erdrich. Read Clarice Lispector. Jorge Louis Borges. But most of all keep searching for what books speak to you. Don't give up on books in general. There are so many books out there, you have to put in the work to find the right ones for you. Trust your instincts.

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