Rebecca Roanhorse

Roanhorse was born in Conway, Arkansas, and has said that she is of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo and African American descent.[3] Members of the Ohkay Owingeh community have disputed this, saying she has no connection to their community.[4] She was raised in Texas, and says she recalls that “being a black and Native kid in Fort Worth in the ’70s and ’80s was pretty limiting“; thus, she turned to reading and writing, especially science fiction, as a form of escape. Her father was an economics professor and her mother was a high school English teacher who encouraged Rebecca’s early attempts at writing stories.[5]

Roanhorse graduated from Yale University and later earned her JD degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law, specializing in Federal Indian Law and lived for several years in the Navajo Nation, where she clerked at the Navajo Supreme Court before working as an attorney.[3] She currently lives in New Mexico with her husband, who is Navajo,[6] and their daughter.

Roanhorse told The New York Times that she initially worked on “Tolkien knockoffs about white farm boys going on journeys”, because she figured that is what readers wanted.[7]

On August 19, 2020, Roanhorse was announced as a contributing writer to Marvel Comics' Marvel's Voices: Indigenous Voices #1 anthology, which released in November 2020. She wrote a story about Echo, joined by Weshoyot Alvitre on art.[8]

In 2018 Roanhorse received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her short story "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™" (Apex Magazine 2017) won two major awards: the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Short Story and the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Short Story. The story also earned her nominations for the 2018 Locus Award for Best Short Story, the 2018 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.[12]

Her first novel, Trail of Lightning, is an "apocalyptic adventure" set in Dinétah, formerly the Navajo reservation in the Southwestern United States, with mostly Navajo characters. The novel received significant critical acclaim, but has been criticized by some Navajo/Diné and other Native authors, scholars, and activists, who have argued that, due to a lack of cultural connection, it misrepresents Navajo teachings and spirituality, disrespects Navajo sensibilities and harms Navajo culture.[4][13] Kirkus Reviews described the book as a "sharp, wonderfully dreamy, action-driven novel,"[14] while The Verge praised the book's representation of Native cultures, saying it "takes readers along for a fun ride."[15]

A group of Navajo writers and cultural workers condemned Trail of Lightning as an inaccurate cultural appropriation that uses an at-times mocking and derisive tone.[16] For example, they criticized the hero's use of bullets filled with corn pollen to slay the monster, which they viewed as a violent, disrespectful misuse of sacred ceremonial traditions.[3] When asked in a Reddit AMA about including Navajo cultural aspects into her works, Roanhorse said her goal was "accuracy and respect" and gave examples of what she fictionalized and what she considered off limits.[17] "I think a lot of Native characters that we see are stuck in the past. So it was important for me to do that, to show Native American readers and non-Native American readers that we're alive and we're thriving in our cultures", she said in 2018.[6] Native scholar Debbie Reese initially praised Trail of Lightning but upon learning that Roanhorse was not an enrolled tribal member, retracted the review and criticized Roanhorse for sharing ideas outside the culture and misusing sacred stories.[3] Some critics argue that because the Indigenous community that Roanhorse has claimed does not claim her, this makes her non-Indigenous;[4] others do not question her Black Indigenous heritage and have expressed concern that claims about her identity are either racist or a distraction from discussions of her work's content.[3] Others have also discussed anti-Blackness within Indigenous communities and how this may impact critiques of Roanhorse.[18] At some point in 2018, when the complaints of cultural appropriation surfaced, references to the Ohkay Owingeh were removed from her official website;[4] Roanhorse believes her mother’s family descended from Ohkay Owingeh people but is “trying to be more careful" about how she discusses it.[3]

Trail of Lightning was nominated for 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novel.[19] In April 2019, it was also nominated for the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Novel.[20] In June 2019, Trail of Lightning won the 2019 Locus Award for Best First Novel.[21] Trail of Lightning was also nominated for the 2019 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.[22]

• Official website