Afternoon Reading with Jon Hickey

Part of the Creative Writing Visiting Writers Series

Join SMC's Creative Writing Department in Hagerty Lounge for an Afternoon Reading with visiting writer Jon Hickey, author of Big Chief, a novel that imagines a cutthroat campaign for control of a Native American reservation. 

The San Francisco Chronicle called this book a “masterclass on identity and what it feels like to be at peace within our skin… Hickey shows us there is power not only in remembering where we came from, but also in where we want to go.” To Hickey, who is an enrolled member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (Anishinaabe), writing about the nuances of tribal politics did not come easily, but they were inspired by his own tribal community. 

Tribal politics “is the central place where identity and belonging is defined and codified in official terms,” he told Wisconsin Public Radio. “Blood quantum and enrollment is such a heated issue, and it cuts right to the bone, because it defines who you are and how you belong to a people. When I was doing my research and I was encountering these things about disenrollment and banishment, it struck me that this was as close as you can get to harming somebody’s sense of themselves.”

The Washington Post said of this novel, “Hickey is so sure-footed, I’ll follow wherever he goes.” We hope you too will join us. 

Visiting Writer events at Saint Mary's are free, open to the public, and ADA Accessible. Visitor parking is available on campus and light refreshments will be served. All attendees are eligible for a fee waiver for the MFA in Creative Writing application—please reach out to Collin Skeen, Assistant Director of Admissions, at cas38@stmarys-ca.edu for more information.