Tommy Orange
Birth dateJanuary 19, 1982 (age 44)
Birth placeOakland, California, U.S.
CitizenshipCheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, United States
OccupationWriter
EducationInstitute of American Indian Arts (BS, MFA)
Notable works
Awards

Tommy Orange (born January 19, 1982) is an American novelist and writer from Oakland, California. His first book, There There (2018), was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction[1] and received the 2019 American Book Award.[2] In October 2025, Orange was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

Orange is a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He earned a master's degree in fine arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts. He was born and raised in the Dimond District[3] of Oakland, California, and resides there.

Early life

Orange was born in Oakland, California, on January 19, 1982. From age 14 to 24, Orange played roller hockey on a national level. He began playing music at the age of 18. Orange's father was a Native American ceremony leader, while his white mother converted for a time to Christianity.[4] After graduating from college with a Bachelor of Science degree in sound arts, Orange worked at Gray Wolf Books, a bookstore in San Leandro, where he developed a passion for reading and thus began writing.[5]

Education

Orange obtained a bachelor's degree in audio engineering and later a Master of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA).[6] He now teaches at the IAIA in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Writing career

In addition to his novels, Orange has published a profile of a Native American teen (17-year-old Jeffrey Martinez) for Esquire magazine in 2019,[7] portraying what life is like for a Native American today. Orange has also published short stories in the literary magazines McSweeney’s, Zoetrope: All-Story, and Zyzzyva.[8]

Orange participated in an episode of The Archive Project at the 2019 Sun Valley Writers' Conference. In the episode, he states that in many ways There There was for his dad and about his dad, whom he described as someone "very secure in their Indianness and doesn’t necessarily teach it to their kids".[9]

Orange's second novel, Wandering Stars, was featured on the cover of the March 2024 issue of BookPage magazine. The cover story featured an article by Orange regarding the inspiration and process of completing the novel.[10] He expressed significant concern that a follow-up novel to There There could be perceived as "lowbrow" before it was released. He wrote that a sequel felt "Like it belonged in the Marvel-Universe of decision-making, like people would think it was a cash grab even though I made the decision before the success of There There".[10] He also stated that the title of the novel was inspired by the 1994 song "Wandering Star" by Portishead.

Inspiration for There There

Orange has said that his inspiration for There There came in a single moment. At the time, he was working in a digital storytelling booth at the Native American Health Center and also at a nonprofit founded by the University of California, Berkeley, called Story Center. His roles were to record oral stories and to staple and make copies of grants, burning sage, and sending them off with a prayer.[3] This work led him to realize that the stories of urban Natives needed to be heard, especially by other urban Natives so they would be able "to see their own stories reflected in a bigger way". Orange said that "Native people are pretty invisible" and he wanted to tell a story about a community that people knew too little about. He believes that hearing a story similar to one's own is powerful and helps people to feel that they exist, and belong to a real community. Orange has said that feeling out of place makes it harder to be a strong human being. It was his goal to expand the range of what it meant to be Native.[5]

Awards and nominations

Orange received the John Leonard Prize in 2018, which is awarded for an author’s first book in any genre. In 2019, he received the PEN/Hemingway Award, which is dedicated to first-time authors of full-length fiction books,[11] and the American Book Award, denoting "an outstanding literary achievement".

There There also received nominations for other recognitions, including the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Audie Award for Multi-voiced Performance, and two from Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Fiction and Best Debut Goodreads Author. It was selected by the American Library Association as a Notable Book in 2025.[12]

Wandering Stars was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize.[13]

October 2025, Tommy Orange was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, popularly known as the MacArthur Foundation's "Genius Awards."[14]

Personal life

Orange lives in Oakland, California, with his wife, Kateri, and his sons, Felix and Solomon.[15]

Works

Novels

Short stories

See also

References

  1. ^ León, Concepción de (April 16, 2019). "What Pulitzer Prize-Nominated Books Should You Read First?". The New York Times. Archived September 15, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  2. ^ "Tommy Orange among winners of American Book Award". Associated Press News. August 19, 2019. Archived February 4, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  3. ^ Chang, Jeff (2019). "Tommy Orange in Conversation with Jeff Chang". City Arts & Lectures. Archived September 28, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  4. ^ Alter, Alexandra (May 31, 2018). "Tommy Orange's 'There There' is a New Kind of American Epic". The New York Times. Archived December 25, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
  5. ^ Button, Liz (May 18, 2018). "A Q&A With Tommy Orange, Author of June's #1 Indie Next List Pick". American Booksellers Association. Archived April 24, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  6. ^ Gross, Joe (January 29, 2019). "Praise for 'There There' still flowing for debut author Tommy Orange". Austin American. Archived February 27, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  7. ^ Orange, Tommy (October 29, 2019). "Escape Velocity: The Astonishing Life of 17-Year-Old Jeffrey Martinez". Esquire. Archived July 21, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  8. ^ Ruland, Jim (November 21, 2019). "Tommy Orange adjusts to all the attention as a 'There There' sequel flows along". Los Angeles Times. Archived November 16, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  9. ^ Proctor, Andrew (July 22, 2019). "Tommy Orange". Literary Arts. Archived October 24, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  10. ^ Orange, Tommy. "Following A Wandering Star". BookPage. ' (Mar 2024): 14–15. Archived 2024-03-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  11. ^ "2019 PEN/Hemingway Winner -Tommy Orange". The Hemingway Society. Archived November 26, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  12. ^ Notable Books List American Library Association.2025.
  13. ^ Creamer, Ella (2024-07-30). "Three British novelists make Booker 2024 longlist among 'cohort of global voices'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
  14. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/arts/design/macarthur-foundation-2025-genius-grant-winners.html
  15. ^ Lenhoff, Linda. "Native Son". www.diablomag.com. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  16. ^ Elliott, Claire S. & Giroux, Rose C. (April 13, 2023). "Tommy Orange Visits Harvard Art Museums to Talk About New Novel, Indigenous Identity". The Crimson. Archived September 11, 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  17. ^ "Never Whistle at Night: 9780593468463 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Archived 2024-01-08 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-01-10.

Further reading