David Seals
| David Seals | |
|---|---|
| Born |
29 April 1947 Denver, Colorado, United States |
| Occupation | Novelist, Author, Screenwriter |
| Genre | Allegory, Poetry |
| Website | |
|
www | |
David Seals (born April 29, 1947 in Denver, Colorado) is a Huron writer specializing in Native American culture and history.
Publishing and film career
Seals' 1979 novel, The Powwow Highway was made into the film Powwow Highway starring A. Martinez and Gary Farmer. It was produced by George Harrison's Handmade Films, and featured appearances by Wes Studi, Graham Greene and Mr.Seals' son, Sky Seals, and then-wife Irene Handren-Seals. Parts of the film were shot on location on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Lame Deer, Montana, with a number of tribal members playing small roles in the film.
Along with fellow filmmakers William McIntyre and David Ode, Seals was a 1990 winner of the Bush Artists Fellowship,[1] from the Bush Foundation in Minneapolis, for their 6-hour "poetic documentary", With Visible Breath I Am Walking. He has also written documentaries for HBO and PBS.
His other published works include the novel Sweet Medicine, a sequel to The Powwow Highway, which Booklist called "a comic masterpiece".[2] In Sweet Medicine, the story continues where The Powwow Highway ended, but with the added device of the characters also commenting on the success of the previous book and film. In an ironic and self-deprecating incident, the protagonists have the chance to see the movie, but choose to see a Hollywood blockbuster instead. Later they also encounter a commune of yuppie newagers, and are tempted with the promise of fame and money, if they would only choose to sell out their vision. The New York Times said, "The book is full of adventure, humor, love and sex, and occasionally some eloquent rage about the way Indians have been treated in America."[3]
Seals' essays have appeared in The Nation, LA Times, Newsday, and 3 scholarly anthologies.[4][5][6]
He has also self-published a number of books, and his work has been taught in the English programs at numerous schools, including the University of Hawai'i and Cambridge University.
Recent works include The Creation Myth, a full-length book of six parts, which is being serialized online. Compared to John Milton's Paradise Lost in scope and style, it is written in heroic verse and adds lengthy details to Greek and Egyptian theogonies.
His family memoir is entitled Abduction at Roswell.[7]
Personal life and political activism
David lives with his family in Flagstaff, Arizona. He is a founding member of the Black Hills Alliance and a long-time activist and supporter of the American Indian Movement (AIM).
Books by David Seals
- The Powwow Highway: a Novel (1990) New York, Plume. ISBN 0-452-26377-8
- Sweet Medicine (1992) New York, Orion Books. ISBN 0-517-58801-3
- The Poetic College: Essays and Poems on Literature and Society, 1989-1991 (1996) Sturgis, SD. Sky and Sage Books. ISBN 1-887786-07-4
- Third Eye Theatre (1996) Sturgis, SD. Sky and Sage Books. ISBN 1-887786-08-2
- Thunder Nation (1996) Sturgis, SD. Sky and Sage Books. ISBN 1-887786-13-9
- The Seventh Generation: Images of the Lakota Today (1998) New York, PowerHouse Books. ISBN 1-57687-031-6
- Abduction at Roswell (2008) Arizona Press. ISBN 978-1-4357-5899-5
Anthologies
- Klawans, Stuart; Peter Biskind, Carl Bromley (2000) Cinema Nation: The Best Writing on Film from the Nation 1913-2000. New York, NY: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-286-3 (contributor)
- Deloria Jr, Vine; Marijo Moore (2003) Genocide of the Mind: New Native American Writing. Nation Books. ISBN 1-56025-511-0 (contributor)
- Moore, Marijo (2006) Eating Fire, Tasting Blood: An Anthology of the American Indian Holocaust. New York, NY: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-838-1 (contributor)
References
- ↑ Bush Foundation | David Seals
- ↑ Booklist, Oct. 1992, American Library Association. Reviewed Sept. 15, 1992 by Ray Olson
- ↑ Hower, Edward, "Back in the Saddle", in The New York Times. Published: Sunday, November 29, 1992
- ↑ Klawans, Stuart; Peter Biskind; Carl Bromley (2000). Cinema Nation: The Best Writing on Film from the Nation 1913-2000. New York, NY: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-286-3.
- ↑ Deloria Jr, Vine; Marijo Moore (2003). Genocide of the Mind: New Native American Writing. Nation Books. ISBN 1-56025-511-0.
- ↑ Marijo Moore (2006). Eating Fire, Tasting Blood: An Anthology of the American Indian Holocaust. New York, NY: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1-56025-838-1.
- ↑ Abduction at Roswell.
External links
|