Oakland Arts and Lectures: Tommy Orange and Dr. Darcie Littlefoot
Hosted by Sistah Scifi
Oakstop’s Broadway Gallery
1723 Broadway Ave.
Oakland
There There, published in 2018, was Tommy Orange’s first novel, crafted in semi-secret over several years before being shared with the world. It brought him critical acclaim and readers from all walks of life. Perhaps nowhere was this more obvious than in his hometown of Oakland, where the book is set.
Six years later, and several after I first encountered the bright orange cover and the depths of its contents, 75 people shuffled into the sunny front room of Oakstop’s gallery location and into the chairs arranged for the day’s event: a conversation between Orange, first-time moderator and fine artist Katie Dorame, and Dr. Darcie Little Badger.
The talk was free, sponsored by several organizations (Sistah Scifi, Visit Oakland, The City of Oakland, and LitQuake), and funded through a city program called Activate Oakland Event Sponsorship.
The host began with a land acknowledgement. These have become more and more common, especially here in the Bay, but hers was a bit different: rather than simply recognizing that we live on stolen Ohlone land, she implored us to consider an annual land tax, akin to property taxes we already pay, to be given directly back to descendants of the tribes we have displaced and killed. Just a lil something to chew on as we listened to these three living Native artists speak.
Though much of the crowd had come for Orange, there were a few clear attendees for Dr. Little Badger: shortly into the program Orange called out a young child in the front row playing with Ninja Turtle figurines, but still listened attentively.
Little Badger, whose doctorate is in oceanography, pivoted her focus prior to writing in 2020. She is of Lipan Apache descent and writes young adult novels centered around family life, inspired by her own, in Texas. Her work blends history, humanity, and magical realism, echoing the stories passed down from her maternal great great grandmother, an elder and medicine woman. Her background in science informs her process, too, a weaving of established realities and those we might imagine.
Orange is working on his third novel, sold late last year. He encouraged us all to take the reins of our creative process in hand now. AI is coming for us, and in the five or so years until we become obsolete (his words), we should produce, and sell all we can. Then find a climate-safe place to live.
He told us that his process is not an easy one: in edits and rewrites he fights with his beloved characters, always with his reader in mind, to keep them believable. Reading aloud helps him gauge how effective, or real, these people are.
We were an eager crowd, quick to clap. This kept the energy high and anticipatory throughout the hour-plus talk, though we did settle down for the authors’ readings.
Little Badger chose a portion involving ghost dogs and shell-calls, while Orange read from his latest release, Wandering Stars, a prequel to There There. The new book charts the passage of a family through the newly established United States, and lands back in Oakland with some of the characters we know and love from There There. As the event description stated, by “extending his constellation of narratives into the past and future, Tommy Orange traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of a family in a story that is by turns shattering and wondrous.”
For those of us who have yet to read the novel, hearing his insight on the characters and historical nuggets he used was a fun almost-spoiler. We already know of the hardships these people have endured, but not the specifics. Orange has woven his fiction with incredible factoids like the camels imported to help fight the Civil War. And yes, you read that right.
As the afternoon’s program drew to a close our Sistah Scifi host stepped back on stage to ease us out with a call and response fitting for the setting.
”Claim our magic.”
”Create our future.”
”Ashe.”
