Thomas King (novelist) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Thomas King CC
King in 2008
Born	(1943-04-24) April 24, 1943 (age 82) Roseville, California, US
Pen name	Hartley GoodWeather
Occupation	Writer presenter activist academic
Citizenship	United States, Canada
Period	1980s–present (as writer)
Genre	Postmodern, trickster novel; comedy and drama script
Subject	First Nations
Notable works	Medicine River; Green Grass, Running Water; The Truth About Stories
Notable awards	Order of Canada, 2004
Children	3

Thomas King (born April 24, 1943) is a Canadian writer and TV host. He was born in the United States. He often writes about First Nations people and their experiences.

Early Life and Learning

Thomas King was born in Roseville, California. His mother had German and Greek family roots. He says his father had some Cherokee descent, but this was not officially recognized by the tribe. King shared that his father left the family when he and his brother were very young. Their mother raised them. In his book The Truth About Stories (2003), King wrote that after his father died, he found out his father had two other families. None of them knew about the others.

As a child, King went to different schools. He attended grammar school in Roseville. He also went to both private Catholic and public high schools. After leaving Sacramento State University, he joined the US Navy for a short time. He left the Navy because of a knee injury. After that, King worked many jobs. He was an ambulance driver, a bank teller, and a photojournalist in New Zealand for three years.

King later earned two degrees from Chico State University in California. He then moved to Utah. There, he worked as a counselor for American Indian students. He also earned his PhD in English from the University of Utah. His studies focused on film and later on Native American storytelling. He became very interested in the oral traditions and stories of American Indian people.

In 1980, King moved to Canada. He taught Native studies at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. He also taught at the University of Minnesota. Today, he is a retired English professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario. He lives in Guelph.

In 2003, King was chosen to give the famous Massey Lectures. These talks were called The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. He was the first person of Indigenous background to give these lectures. King explored the Native experience through stories, history, and culture. He wanted to help people understand the relationship between North America and its Indigenous peoples.

Speaking Out for Rights

Thomas King has often spoken about his concerns for Indigenous people. He has criticized the governments of both the United States and Canada. He worries about the future and rights of Indigenous people in North America. He fears that Indigenous culture and land will continue to be taken away. He believes there will be nothing left for them. In his 2013 book, The Inconvenient Indian, King wrote, "The issue has always been land. It will always be land, until there isn't a square foot of land left in North America that is controlled by Native people."

King also talks about rules for Indigenous status. He noted that in the 1800s, laws in the US and Canada removed Indigenous status from people who went to university or joined the army. King has also worked to show how some laws make it hard to claim Indigenous status. Examples include the US Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 and Canada's 1985 Bill C-31. Bill C-31 changed the Indian Act to let Indigenous women and their children get their status back. Before, women lost their status if they married a non-status man. King says that while this change helped some women, it could make it harder for future generations to keep their status.

His Books and Stories

King has been writing novels, children's books, and story collections since the 1980s. Some of his well-known books include A Coyote Columbus Story (1992) and Green Grass, Running Water (1993). Both were nominated for a Governor General's Award. A Coyote Columbus Story was nominated for children's literature. Green Grass, Running Water was nominated for fiction.

His book The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America (2012) won the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize. King's novel, Indians on Vacation (2020), won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour in 2021.

King's writing style mixes traditional Western storytelling with oral storytelling. He writes in a way that feels like a conversation. For example, in Green Grass, Running Water, the narrator sometimes talks with the characters. In The Truth About Stories, King speaks directly to the reader. He uses funny stories and jokes, but he still shares serious messages. This style is often compared to the "trickster" legends found in Native American culture.

In Politics

In 2007, Thomas King decided to get involved in politics. He announced he would try to become a candidate for the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the Guelph area. He was officially named the NDP candidate on March 30, 2007. The leader of the NDP, Jack Layton, was there for the announcement.

There was going to be a special election in Guelph. This was because the current Member of Parliament, Brenda Chamberlain, was leaving her job. The special election was planned for September 8, 2008. However, it was cancelled when a general election was called for October 14, 2008. In that election, King finished fourth.

Other Creative Work

In the 1990s, King worked as a story editor for Four Directions. This was a CBC Television drama series about First Nations people. He also wrote a TV script called "Borders" for the series. It was based on one of his own short stories.

From 1997 to 2000, King wrote and acted in a CBC radio show. It was called The Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour. The show was set in a made-up town and featured a fake radio program. Three First Nations characters hosted it. The show used ideas from his novel, Green Grass, Running Water. It was a funny show that made fun of stereotypes and talked about social and political issues.

In 2007, King directed his first short film. It was called I'm Not the Indian You Had in Mind, and he wrote it too. He also has a book of shorter poems called 77 Fragments of Familiar Ruin. In 2020, his book The Inconvenient Indian was made into a documentary film.

Personal Life

Thomas King's partner is Helen Hoy. She is a retired professor of English and Women's Studies at the University of Guelph. She has also written a book about Native women writers in Canada. King has three children: Christian (born 1971), Benjamin (born 1985), and Elizabeth (born 1988). He and his partner live in Guelph, Ontario.

Works

Books

• Medicine River (Viking Canada, 1990), novel
• A Coyote Columbus Story (Douglas & McIntyre, 1992), illustrated by William Kent Monkman – Governor General's Award finalist
• Green Grass, Running Water (Houghton Mifflin, 1993), novel featuring Coyote, – Governor General's Award finalist
• One Good Story, That One (1993), stories
• Borders (1993)
• Coyote Sings to the Moon (1998), illus. Johnny Wales
• Truth and Bright Water (HarperFlamingo Canada, 1999)
• The Truth About Stories (House of Anansi Press, 2003); US edition The Truth About Stories: a native narrative (U. of Minnesota Press, 2005) – Massey Lectures
• Coyote's New Suit (2004), illus. Johnny Wales
• A Short History of Indians in Canada (HarperCollins, 2005), stories – McNally Robinson Award winner
• A Coyote Solstice Tale (Groundwood Books, 2009), illus. Gary Clement
• The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America (Doubleday Canada, 2012)
• The Back of the Turtle (Doubleday, 2014) – Governor General's Award winner
• 77 Fragments of Familiar Ruin (2019) - Poems
• Indians on Vacation (2020)
• Sufferance (2021)

DreadfulWater Mysteries

• Dreadful Water Shows Up (2002), published under the pen name Hartley GoodWeather (reprinted 2017 as DreadfulWater, as author Thomas King)
• The Red Power Murders (2006), as Hartley GoodWeather (reprinted 2017, as author Thomas King )
• Cold Skies (2018)
• A Matter of Malice (2019)
• Obsidian (2020)
• Deep House (2022)
• Double Eagle (2023)
• Black Ice (2024)

As editor

• The Native in Literature (1987)
• An Anthology of Short Fiction by Native Writers in Canada (1988)
• All My Relations: an anthology of contemporary Canadian native fiction (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1990)

Selected short stories

Short story collections are listed above.

• "Coyote and the Enemy Aliens" (HarperCollins, 2012), ebook,

Scripts

• Four Directions (CBC Television, 1996), drama anthology series, as editor and sometime writer
• The Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour (CBC Radio, 1997 to 2000) and its sequels (2002 and 2006)
• I'm Not The Indian You Had In Mind, 2007, short film also directed by King

Awards and Honors

Literary Awards

• Nominated for a Governor General's Award in 1992 for A Coyote Columbus Story.
• Nominated for a Governor General's Award in 1993 for Green Grass, Running Water.
• Won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour in 2021 for Indians on Vacation.
• Green Grass, Running Water was chosen for the 2004 Canada Reads competition.
• A Short History of Indians in Canada won the 2006 McNally Robinson Aboriginal Book of the Year Award.
• The Inconvenient Indian won the 2014 RBC Taylor Prize.
• The Back of the Turtle won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction in 2014.
• Indians on Vacation was shortlisted for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction in 2020.

Honors

• In 2004, King was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
• In November 2020, King was named a Companion of the Order of Canada. This is a higher honor. He received it for his "enduring contributions to the preservation and recognition of indigenous culture." He is seen as one of North America’s most important writers.

Other Recognition

• In 2003, he was chosen to give the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Massey Lectures. These talks were published as the book The Truth About Stories.

See also

• List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas
• Native American Studies
• 2008 Canadian federal by-elections