Article in 'Indian Country Today'

Writer Robert Schmidt's Q&A on Trickster was just published in Indian Country Today, the nation's leading Native American news source. Thanks, Robert (and ICT)!

'Box of Daylight'

"Box of Daylight" is written by Alaskan storyteller Gene Tagaban. The original artist for the story fell through, but, as luck would have it, I received an e-mail from Turkish illustrator Gokhan Okur. Gokhan and I "met" during an online monster-drawing competition. We talked about working together on a project but he first had to serve his time in the military. When the initial artist dropped out, an e-mail popped in my in-box from Gokhan, saying his stint was over. What great timing--and what a great artist to land! Below are the roughs for the first two pages of the story.

Kudos to Michael Thompson!

Last week, Trickster contributor Michael Thompson received the top award for magazine featurewriting from the Society of National Association Publications for an article he wrote for the Tribal College Journal ("Honoring the "Word" was the title of the piece.) His wife, Tina Deschenie, editor of the magazine, received the bronze award for magazine editorial writing for her piece "Why We Are Sticking to Our Stories."

Congratulations!

Native Tongue

The Lawrence Journal-World did a pretty good article about Trickster contributor Jimm Goodtracks' efforts to preserve Ioway, a nearly lost American Indian language. Great photos, too.

'Azban and the Crayfish'

I've been lucky enough to illustrate a wonderful story by Abenaki storytellers James and Joseph Bruchac called "Azban and the Crayfish." I grew up in the Northeast and have a fondness for raccoons and crayfish, so it suit me just fine!

'The Yehasuri"

"The Yehasuri: The Little, Wild Indians" is a great example of collaborating to develop a story for comics to its fullest potential. It is written by Beckee Garris, a Catawba who retired in 1999 and is pursuing a degree in Native American Studies at the University of South Carolina. D.C. cartoonist Andrew Cohen took the naughty-but-playful little characters and had some fun incorporating them into the layout--having them sneak from behind panels, throw things from one panel to another, etc. Below is one page from their story illustrating that point.