Geary Hobson

Geary Hobson, Cherokee-Quapaw/Chickasaw, grew up in Arkansas and received his B. A. and M. A. degrees in English at Arizona State University and his Ph. D. in American Studies at the University of New Mexico.He has worked as a farm laborer, U. S. Marine, salesman, construction worker, surveyor's assistant, semi-pro baseball player and bookstore clerk, among other occupations, as well as teaching at Arizona State University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Arkansas, Central Arkansas University, and now at the University of Oklahoma. Currently he is the Project Director for the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas and a member of the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. He serves as Associate Editor for Literature for The American Indian Quarterly and on the Advisory Board for Wicazo Sa Review. A book of essays, The Rise of the White Shaman: Essays and Reviews, 1970-2000, is currently in press.

Geary has published poems, short stories, critical articles, book reviews, and historical essays in The Greenfield Review, Arizona Quarterly, Contact/II, Western American Literature, World Literature Today, Y'Bird and other journals. Among his current projects are The Literature of Indian Country, a critical and historical study of Native American writing and publishing from 1968 to 1990; a second novel; a second book of poems; and an anthology of Southeastern Indian writings. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Native American and American literature, with the belief that students learn more about literature when they consider the written works as products totally of the social and cultural milieu of which the works are a part.

Writing available online

From Chapter 4, The Last of the Ofos
From Chapter 6, The Last of the Ofos
Buffalo Poem #1
Central Highlands, Viet Nam, 1968
Native American Literature: Remembrance, Renewal, in the: USIA Electronic Journal and (In Spanish)

Honors & Awards

Geary Hobson received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas in 2003.

Geary was named 2001 Fiction Writer of the Year by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers for his novel The Last of the Ofos.

Books by Geary Hobson or containing his work

The Rise of the White Shaman: Essays and Reviews, (in press)
The Last of the Ofos, Univ. of Arizona Press. (Suntracks #39): Publisher's page for the book.
Review by Tom Lynch, New Mexico State Univ.
The Last of the Ofos and Life Woven with Song. (book review) : An article from: International Fiction Review
The Remembered Earth: An Anthology of Contemporary Native American Literature, (Editor),Univ. New Mexico Press.
Deer Hunting and Other Poems, Point Riders Press.

Anthologies

From Totems to Hip-Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, 1900-2002,: Ishmael Reed (Editor), Thunder's Mouth Press.
Without Reservation: Indigenous Erotica, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (Editor),: Kegedonce Press.
Arkansas, Arkansas: Writers and Writings from the Delta to the Ozarks, 1970-Present,: John Caldwell Guilds, John Gould Fletcher & Vance Randolph (Editors), Univ. Arkansas Press.
Native American Literature: An Anthology, Lawana Trout (Editor),: NTC Publishing.
The Indian Summer issue of Phatitude
An Ear to the Ground, Maria Harris & Kathleen Aguerro (Editors),: Univ. Georgia Press.
Okla Hannali, Forward by Geary Hobson, Univ. Oklahoma Press.
Aniyunwiya/Real Human Beings: An Anthology of Contemporary Cherokee Prose,: Joseph Bruchac (Editor), Greenfield Review Press.
Growing Up Native American, Patricia Riley (Editor) , Avon Books.
Returning the Gift: Poetry and Prose from the First North American Native Writers' Festival: (Sun Tracks Books, No 29) University of Arizona Press.
The Rattlesnake Band and other Poems, Forward by Geary Hobson,: Robert Conley, Indian Univ. Press.
OYO: An Ohio River Anthology, Voll. III, River Lives, OYO.
American Indian Literature: An Anthology, Alan R. Velie (Editor),: sUniv. Oklahoma Press.
The Clouds Threw This Light, 1983, IAIA Press.
Songs from This Earth on Turtle's Back: An Anthology of Poetry by American Indian Writers: Joseph Bruchac (Editor), Greenfield Review Press.
Southwest: A Contemporary Anthology, Red Earth Press

Textbooks

Structure and Meaning: An Introduction to Literature,: Anthony Dube, J. Karl Franson, James W. Parins & Russell E. Murphy (Editors), Houghton Mifflin.

This is an "official" site in that this page was constructed with the assistance and active collaboration of the poet, Geary Hobson. The website "author" is Karen M. Strom.

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