Eric Gansworth is a

Haudenosaunee The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

Early life

Gansworth was born in 1965 and is an enrolled citizen of the

Onondaga Nation The Onondaga people ( Onondaga: , ''Hill Place people'') are one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois (''Haudenosaunee'') Confederacy in northeast North America. Their traditional homeland is in and around present-day Onondaga ...

; however, he grew up in the

Tuscarora Nation The Tuscarora (in Tuscarora ''Skarù:ręˀ'', "hemp gatherers" or "Shirt-Wearing People") are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government of the Iroquoian family, with members today in New York, USA, and Ontario, Canada. They ...

as a descendant of one of two Onondaga women present among the Tuscarora at the foundation of the nation in the 18th century. Gansworth originally qualified in electroencephalography, considered a profession useful to his nation; however, he went on to study literature and to continue a lifelong interest in painting and drawing.

Work

Gansworth has written five novels, including the award-winning ''Mending Skins'' (2005) and ''Extra Indians'' (2010). In all his novels, illustrations form an integral part of the reading experience. His critically acclaimed first young adult novel, ''If I Ever Get out of Here'', deals with the friendship between two boys, one a resident of the Tuscarora Nation, the other living on the nearby

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

base. In a starred review, ''

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...

'' stated that the book succeeded in "sidestepping stereotypes to offer two genuine characters navigating the unlikely intersection of two fully realized worlds." Gansworth states that growing up he was struck by an absence of images of contemporary Native American life to use as drawing practice, noting that "I could offer images from the Planet of the Apes, The Towering Inferno, Spiderman and, of course, Batman, but I had a critical shortage of Indian drawings." Subsequently, in his literary studies he was again critical of the lack of American Indian authored texts offered on his courses. Much of his current literary and artistic drive can be seen as attempting to overcome this lack of attention. Gansworth himself sees the two themes most important to his work as being "the ways history informs the present" and also a strong interest in entertainment culture. Critic Susan Bernardin has analyzed Gansworth's writing via

Gerald Vizenor Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and ...

's concept of survivance, suggesting that his novel ''Mending Skins'' "suggests how Native peoples reimagine patterns of loss into new stories, especially through humored stories of survivance." His 2020 non-fiction book, Apple (Skin to the Core) won a Michael L. Printz honor for best young adult writing.

Visual arts

Gansworth's art career began with "trying to hawk my drawings to the folks who lived down the road"; his professional career, however, began with the exhibition ''Nickel Eclipse: Iroquois Moon'' in 1999. Since then, he has exhibited regularly. One of his images was chosen for the cover of

Sherman Alexie Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a Spokane- Coeur d'Alene-Native American novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and filmmaker. His writings draw on his experiences as an Indigenous American with ancestry from se ...

's novel ''First Indian on the Moon''.

Bibliography

Novels

* * * *

Young adult

* * *'' Apple (Skin to the Core).'' Arthur A. Levine Books. 2020.

Poetry

* * * *

Edited anthology

References

External links

Discussion of ''If I Ever Get Out Of Here''
by

Debbie Reese Debbie Reese is a Nambé Pueblo scholar and educator. Reese founded American Indians in Children's Literature, which analyzes representations of Native and Indigenous peoples in children's literature. She co-edited a young adult adaptation of '' ...

for the blog American Indians in Children's Literature''
Video interview
conducted at SUNY New York.
Official websiteExtended bibliography and work online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gansworth, Eric 1965 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists American Book Award winners American male novelists Living people Native American novelists Onondaga people Tuscarora people