The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative

Thomas King is an American Canadian Native American novelist, broadcaster, lecturer, and activist. He was born in 1943 in California and considers himself to be a “mixed blood” of Cherokee, Greek, and German heritage. He was raised mostly by his mother in Roseville, California, where he encountered discrimination against Mexican Americans but little discrimination against Native Americans.

After high school he studied at Sacramento State University before joining the navy. After the navy, he worked as a bank teller and ambulance driver before moving to New Zealand, where he worked as a deer culler before embarking on a career in photojournalism. After returning to the United States, King began an academic career. He completed a PhD in English at the University of Utah. His thesis was about the oral storytelling tradition in Native literature and culture. He became a professor of Native studies at the University of Lethbridge, then later a professor American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota, and finally a professor of English at the University of Guelph.

In his academic career he has continuously studied different storytelling traditions. He has also written novels and children’s books that make use of both Native and non-Native writing and storytelling styles, including Truth and Bright Water, Medicine River, The Back of the Turtle, and Green Grass, Running Water). King’s writing style is a bit like the trickster Coyote of Native tradition, as he blends humor with deeply serious topics. For example, in his children’s book A Coyote Columbus Story, Coyote conjures up Christopher Columbus so he can field a baseball team, only to have the story end with Columbus enslaving Indians. King also writes nonfiction, including The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America.

In 2003 King was the first Native American or Aboriginal speaker chosen to deliver the Massey Lectures. These lectures became the text The Truth About Stories, a book that combines King’s unique life experiences with his idiosyncratic interests and areas of expertise, encompassing everything from his time in New Zealand, to his work as a radio broadcaster on the CBC, to his thorough analysis of Native literary traditions, to the history of laws about Native lands and rights.