1. Tommy Orange was born on January 19,1982 and is an American novelist and writer from Oakland, California.
21 Facts About Tommy Orange
1. 2.
Tommy Orange's first book, There There, was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and received the 2019 American Book Award.
3.
Tommy Orange earned a master's degree in fine arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
4.
Tommy Orange was born and raised in the Dimond District of Oakland, California, and resides in Oakland, California, with his wife, Kateri, and his sons, Felix and Solomon.
5.
Tommy Orange was born in Oakland, California, on January 19,1982.
6.
From age 14 to 24, Tommy Orange played roller hockey on a national level.
7.
Tommy Orange's father was a Native American ceremony leader, while his mother converted for a time to Christianity.
8.
Tommy Orange obtained a bachelor's degree in audio engineering and later a Master of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
9.
Tommy Orange now teaches at the IAIA in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
10.
Tommy Orange has published short stories in the literary magazines McSweeney's, Zoetrope: All-Story, and Zyzzyva.
11.
Tommy Orange participated in an episode of The Archive Project at the 2019 Sun Valley Writers' Conference.
12.
The cover story featured an article by Tommy Orange regarding the inspiration and process of completing the novel.
13.
Tommy Orange expressed significant concern that a follow-up novel to There There could be perceived as "lowbrow" before it was released.
14.
Tommy Orange wrote that a sequel felt "Like it belonged in the Marvel-Universe of decision-making, like people would think it was a cash grab even though I made the decision before the success of There There".
15.
Tommy Orange stated that the title of the novel was inspired by the 1994 song "Wandering Star" by Portishead.
16.
Tommy Orange has said that his inspiration for There There came in a single moment.
17.
Tommy Orange's roles were to record oral stories and to staple and make copies of grants, burning sage, and sending them off with a prayer.
18.
Tommy Orange said that "Native people are pretty invisible" and he wanted to tell a story about a community that people knew too little about.
19.
Tommy Orange believes that hearing a story similar to one's own is powerful and helps people to feel that they exist, and belong to a real community.
20.
Tommy Orange has said that feeling out of place makes it harder to be a strong human being.
21.
Tommy Orange received the John Leonard Prize in 2018, which is awarded for an author's first book in any genre.