Author
Calling for a Blanket Dance
Oscar Hokeah's first novel follows Ever Geimausaddle, a young man of Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican heritage, from a traumatic infancy in Oklahoma through a turbulent adulthood. Ever never narrates his own early life. Relatives tell it instead, each from a different generation and with a different stake in who he becomes: grandmothers, a grandfather, cousins, aunts and others. Together they show how a family absorbs harm and tries to answer it with care, ceremony and practical help. The title comes from a powwow custom in which a community gathers to support someone in need. Among the notable debut novels of 2022, this work of literary fiction won the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. It is a good choice for readers drawn to family stories, Indigenous life in the present day and multi-voice storytelling.