Navarre Scott Momaday (born 1934) is a Kiowa-Cherokee writer from Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona.^[1]

Contents 1 Background 2 Writing career 3 Bibliography 4 Honors 5 Recent activities 6 Quotes 7 See also 8 References & notes 9 External links

[edit] Background

He is the son of the writer Natachee Scott Momaday and the painter Al Momaday, and was born on February 27, 1934 at the Kiowa-Comanche Indian Hospital in Lawton, Oklahoma, United States. He is enrolled in the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma but also has Cherokee heritage from his mother.^[1]

[edit] Writing career

Momaday's novel House Made of Dawn led to the breakthrough of Native American literature into the mainstream. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969.

[edit] Bibliography

• The Journey of Tai-me (1967)
• House Made of Dawn (1968)
• The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969) (illustrated by his father, Alfred Momaday)
• Angle of Geese (1974)
• The Gourd Dancer (1976)
• The Names: A Memoir (1976)
• The Ancient Child (1989)
• In the Presence of the Sun (1992)
• The Native Americans: Indian County (1993)
• The Indolent Boys (play) world premiere Syracuse Stage 1993-94 season
• Circle of Wonder: A Native American Christmas Story (1994)
• The Man Made of Words: Essays, Stories, Passages (1997)
• In the Bear's House (1999)

[edit] Honors

He was also featured in the Ken Burns and Stephen Ives' documentary, The West, for his masterful retelling of Kiowa history and legend. Momaday is also featured in another PBS documentary concerning the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Momaday is the Oklahoma Centennial Poet Laureate^[2] He has most recently been awarded a 2007 National Medal of Arts by former President George W. Bush.^[3]

[edit] Recent activities

Momaday founded and operates the Rainy Mountain Foundation^[4] and Buffalo Trust, a nonprofit organization working to preserve native cultures.^[5] He paints in watercolors and illustrated his own book, In the Bear's House.

The author has struggled with diabetes and is currently housebound and cared for by Coming Home Connection of Santa Fe.^[6]

[edit] Quotes

• "I sometimes think the contemporary white American is more culturally deprived than the Indian."^[7]
• "I simply kept my goal in mind and persisted. Perseverance is a large part of writing."^[7]

[edit] See also

• List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas
• Native American Renaissance
• Native American Studies

[edit] References & notes

[edit] External links

• N. Scott Momaday from the Modern American Poetry site
• The Buffalo Trust - Momaday's non-profit charitable foundation
• Perspectives in American Literature - Momaday Bibliography
• Interview with Momaday
• Article about Momaday's selection as Poet Laureate of Oklahoma
• "N. Scott Momaday" by Martha Scott Trimble in the Western Writers Series Digital Editions

Persondata
NAME	Momaday, N. Scott
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Kiowa-Cherokee author and artist from Oklahoma
DATE OF BIRTH	February 27, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lawton, Oklahoma, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH