Cheyenne Madonna

Eddie Chuculate’s gritty, yet humor and pathos-filled linked story collection is not only a portrait of a young Native American artist struggling with the two constants in his life—alcohol and art—but an unsentimental portrait of America, of its dispossessed, its outlaws, and its visionaries.

Cheyenne Madonna traces the life of Jordan Coolwater. Bearing the burden of his Creek Indian ancestry, we watch Coolwater evolve from bored young boy shooting turtles on a summer day, to thoughtful teenager being raised by his grandparents, to struggling artist, to escaped convict, and finally, father.

The first story in this debut collection, "Galveston Bay, 1826," won an O.Henry Prize in 2007, and the second, "Yo Yo," received a Pushcart Prize Special Mention. Admirers of the short stories of Jim Harrison and Annie Proulx will appreciate Chuculate's steady, confident prose rooted in American realism.

About the Author:

Eddie Chuculate has won PEN/O. Henry Prize and Pushcart Prize citations for his short fiction. A Creek and Cherokee Indian from Muskogee, Oklahoma, he holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, held a Wallace Stegner Fellowshsip at Stanford University, and is a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Chuculate was the second Native American to ever hold the prestigious Stegner Fellowship. While working as a pecan picker and furniture mover, Chuculate became a sportswriter and eventually served as an editor at various newspapers, including those in Denver, Tulsa, Albuquerque, and Abu Dhabi. He's currently an editor at the Minnesota Star Tribune in Minneapolis.

• Paperback
• 160 pages
  
• ISBN: 9781574232165