Nas'Naga (April 13, 1941 – July 7, 2012) is the
pen-name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
of Roger W. Russell, an American writer, poet, and artist.
He was the fourth writer whose work was featured in the
Harper & Row
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
Native American Publishing series.
Early life and education
Roger Russell was born in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...
, to Bill and Kitty Russell, who identified as being of
Scots and
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
descent.
["Obituary: Roger Russell"](_blank)
''The Columbus Dispatch'', 19 October 2012, accessed 12 January 2014 He was educated in local public schools. He attended
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private research university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison and Randolph Clark as the Add-Ran Male & Female College. It is affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciple ...
, where he was mentored by Dr. Don Worcester and started writing.
Russell served in the United States Navy from 1959 to 1963.
Literary career
His
young adult novel
Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults.
The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...
''Indians' Summer'' (1975) appeared in the
Harper & Row
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
Native American Publishing series; Russell was the fourth author published. He used his Shawnee pen-name of ''Nas'Naga.'' It is described as shifting between farce and a recounting of issues related to Indian sovereignty.
The novel depicts a revolution called in 1976 by the Sioux, Apache, Hopi, Navajo, Pueblo and Mohawk, just before the bicentennial of United States independence. They declare their own independence and the nation of Anishinabe-Waki (Land of the People), and the Sioux take control of nuclear weapons aimed at the White House.
James Mackay in the ''Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature'' describes the novel as "one of the fullest literal explorations of Indian separatism, and one of the few books to envision a pan-Indian state."
Mackay also notes that the novel reflects the political activism of the 1970s.
In 1979 Russell published two volumes of poetry, also as Nas'Naga.
Russell also worked as a community
activist in Columbus. Proud of his family's claimed Shawnee heritage, he worked for American Indian causes through his writings, including articles and poems. He also drew illustrations on this theme and gave lectures about current Native Americans and their issues. He is survived by his wife Barbara.
Legacy and honors
He was profiled in the Marquis ''
Who's Who in America
Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...
'' and ''in the World'' since 2002.
Bibliography
*''Indians' Summer'' (1975), novel
*''The Darker Side of Glory'' (1979), poetry
*''Faces beneath the grass'' (1979), poetry
See also
*
Native American Renaissance The Native American Renaissance is a term originally coined by critic Kenneth Lincoln in the 1983 book ''Native American Renaissance'' to categorise the significant increase in production of literary works by Native Americans in the United States in ...
*
Native American Studies
*
List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas
This is a list of notable writers who are Indigenous peoples of the Americas.
This list includes authors who are Alaskan Native, American Indian, First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and Indigenous peoples of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasnaga
American people of Scottish descent
American people who self-identify as being of Shawnee descent
Writers from Dayton, Ohio
American male writers
2012 deaths
1941 births
20th-century American poets
Activists from Ohio