Episode 140 with Oscar Hokeah, Author of Calling for a Blanket Dance and Storyteller of the Old Made New, Subtle Master of Dialogue and Realism, and Builder of Unforgettable Characters

Episode 140 Notes and Links to Oscar Hokeah’s Work 

 

    On Episode 140 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Oscar Hokeah, and the two discuss, among other topics, Oscar’s childhood and adulthood living in and being interested by the confluence of multiple languages, his early reading of Stephen King, his love of Alice Munro and N. Scott Momaday, discussions of decolonization through his work and in the outside world, and the myriad themes, symbols, and allusions contained in his dynamic and profound debut novel. 

    Oscar Hokeah is a regionalist Native American writer of literary fiction, interested in capturing intertribal, transnational, and multicultural aspects within two tribally specific communities: Tahlequah and Lawton, Oklahoma.  He was raised inside these tribal circles and continues to reside there today.

      He is a citizen of Cherokee Nation and the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma from his mother (Hokeah and Stopp families), and he has Mexican heritage from his father (Chavez family) who emigrated from Aldama, Chihuahua, Mexico.

You can find the Stopp family (Cherokee) in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and the Hokeah family (Kiowa) in Lawton, Oklahoma.  Family on his Kiowa side (Hokeah, and Tahsequah through marriage) organized the Oklahoma Gourd Dance Club for over a decade, and he has family members actively involved with the Kiowa Tia-Piah Society, Comanche War Scouts Society, and Comanche Little Ponies Society.

Oscar has spent nearly 20 years empowering Native American communities.  From his work in Santa Fe, NM with Intermountain Youth Centers and the Santa Fe Mountain Center, he has worked with Pueblo, Apache, and Diné peoples.  Currently, living in his home town of Tahlequah, Oklahoma (in the heart of Cherokee Nation), he works with Indian Child Welfare, where he gives back to the community that nurtured and embedded the Indigenous values he passes along to his children.

He is a recipient of the Truman Capote Scholarship Award through IAIA, and also a winner of the Native Writer Award through the Taos Summer Writers Conference. His writing can be found in World Literature Today, American Short Fiction, South Dakota Review, Yellow Medicine Review, Surreal South, and Red Ink Magazine.

His highly-anticipated debut novel, Calling for a Blanket Dance, came out on July 26.

Oscar Hokeah's Website

 

Buy Waiting for a Blanket Dance

 

New York Times Book Review by Antonia Angress for Waiting for a Blanket Dance

 

Oscar Gives a Sketch of his Book’s Plot and Themes

 

Waiting for a Blanket Dance Review from Minnesota Star Tribune

At about 3:00, Oscar talks about the blitz and fun accompanying the recent publication of his book

 

At about 6:00, Oscar describes emotional connections and favorite characters that readers have shared with him 

 

At about 7:30, Kristin Apodaca is touted as having a “Salvador Dali-style” as Oscar describes the cover and its background

 

At about 10:20, Pete asks Oscar about growing up and his relationship with languages and the printed word, including his early work based on favorite writers like Stephen King

 

At about 15:50, Oscar continues to discuss intersections of language and how he has used Kiowa, Spanish, English, and Cherokee in his life and in his writing

 

At about 18:30, Oscar responds to Pete’s questions about formative writers in life, including N. Scott Momaday, Kafka, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Alice Munro

 

At about 22:10, Pete and Oscar laugh about a cool book cameos by a “Hokeah” and an N. Scott Momaday shout out

 

At about 23:20, Oscar references the varied reading he has done in recent times, including Velorio by Xavier Navarro Aquino, and he also shouts out “an amazing time for Native writers’

 

At about 26:00, Pete highlights the recent NYT reviews for the book, and Oscar to Pete’s question about the book’s pitch

 

At about 27:50, Oscar describes his rationale in including an N. Scott Momaday quote as his epigraph

 

At about 30:00, Pete and Oscar discuss the book’s POVs and how “telling someone else’s story” serves as a successful craft piece; Oscar explains the power of this “peripheral narration”

 

At about 32:30, the two discuss a pivotal scene that starts the book and Oscar highlights “male-on-male violence” and the concept of “indigenous landscapes” with a shifting lense

 

At about 38:40, Pete and Oscar discuss ideas of “home” and Vincent’s chapter and the importance of Vincent’s redemption; Oscar highlights real-life connections 

 

At about 43:00, The two chart Ever’s development and setbacks while noting the significance of a gift given in the form of a booger mask

 

At about 44:30, Oscar captures moments of familial and community love

 

At about 45:10, The two discuss the implications of the phrase “Ni modo” and an incident with Ever and his father that was “too little, too late”

 

At about 46:20, the two discuss “per caps” and the chapter that focuses on them 

 

At about 46:55, Pete and Oscar reflect on ideas of communication or lack thereof with regard to Lena Stopp and Sissy and Ever, as Oscar talks about a character based on his mom and parenting when one’s children are in transition to maturity

 

At about 49:25, Oscar discusses ideas of addiction in the book and connections to his own communities, including how the character of Lonnie acts differently as a woman in the drug world

 

At about 50:45, The two discuss hearsay and its connections to perceptions of people, including how every character in the book is sketched so skillfully in order that they are all objects of sympathy/empathy

 

At about 52:45, Ever’s surrogate son Leander and hope and his question of “How did I get here?” is discussed and ideas of breaking generational habits, too

 

At about 54:15, Oscar points out an important scene that involves Leander and his memories and art as an outlet

 

At about 55:50, Pete asks Oscar about the book’s title in complimenting the chapter dealing with quilts and family legacy

 

At about 57:00, Oscar gives the real-life details that he experienced that gave rise to the book’s powerful and moving last chapter that involved Cherokee housing

 

At about 58:10, Oscar connects an important series of quotes to the idea of community parenting in Cherokee  

 

At about 58:10, Pete points out the last chapter’s stand-alone and combined greatness that uses ideas of community and implementing ideas learned throughout Ever’s life

 

At about 1:00:05, Oscar responds to Pete’s questions about the title’s larger implications

 

At about 1:01:55, Oscar highlights future projects 

 

At about 1:03:20, Oscar does some casting for an aspirational movie/tv show based on the book

 

At about 1:04:15, Oscar gives contact info and social media info and shouts out Too Fond of Books in Tahlequah, OK

  

    You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I’m @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I’m @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you’re checking out this episode. 

    This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I’d love for your help in promoting what I’m convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.

The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.

    Please tune in for Episode 141 with Ingrid Rojas Contreras, whose first novel, Fruit of the Drunken Tree, was the silver medal winner in First Fiction from the California Book Awards, and a New York Times editor's choice. Her essays and short stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Buzzfeed, Nylon, and Guernica, among others. Her latest, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, has been universally-beloved and covered on NPR and in The New York Times. 

    The episode will air on September 6.