Brando Skyhorse
| Brando Skyhorse | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Echo Park, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater |
Stanford University; UC Irvine. |
| Notable awards |
Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction; PEN/Hemingway Award |
Brando Skyhorse is a Hispanic/Mexican-American author and winner of the 2011 PEN/Hemingway Award[1][2] and the 2011 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction for his novel The Madonnas of Echo Park.[3] He was a professional book editor prior to publishing this book, which was originally named Amexicans.[4][5] Skyhorse Publishing is named after him.[6]
Life
Skyhorse was born and raised in Echo Park, California and has degrees from Stanford University and from the MFA Writers' Workshop program at UC Irvine.[7]
Skyhorse shared the story of his complex ethnic identity development in an episode of the Snap Judgment podcast (#807 Born Identity), which was posted on March 24, 2017. In the episode, he indicated that his mother insisted throughout his childhood that both she and he were Native American, and posed herself as a powerful Native advocate, but later admitted that this was not true--that they were both Mexican-American, but that she had adopted a Native identity for herself and her son out of a belief that identity is a choice. Skyhorse indicated in the podcast interview that under his mother's very dominant and at times frightening orders, he continued to claim a Native identity until her death, including on his college application to Stanford. He acknowledges feeling guilty and conflicted about this choice both at the time and at present, but also acknowledges that for an 18-year-old boy to have done otherwise in the confines of the hostile and dangerous dynamic that existed with his mother would have been next to impossible. Skyhorse's story is reflective of the complexity of racial and ethnic identity in the United States and the impact of adults upon the identity development of children.
He currently lives in New Jersey with his couch, Big Red.
Works
- The Madonnas of Echo Park: A Novel. Simon and Schuster. 8 February 2011. ISBN 978-1-4391-7084-7.
- Take This Man: A Memoir. Simon and Schuster. 3 June 2014. ISBN 978-1-4391-7087-8.
References
- ↑ "Brando Skyhorse getting PEN/Hemingway Award". Associated Press. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
- ↑ North-Hager, Eddie (March 7, 2011). "Brando Skyhorse wins Hemingway Foundation/Pen Award for 'Madonnas of Echo Park' (+video interview)". Echo Park Online. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ↑ http://flavorwire.com/460821/will-you-be-my-father-brando-skyhorses-take-this-man-is-a-tearjerker
- ↑ Neyfakh, Leon (April 16, 2009). "Free Press Bests Ecco, Twelve in Pursuit Of Short Stories by Former Grove Editor Brando Skyhorse". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
- ↑ McKenna, Alix (9 July 2010). "The Weight of Invisibility: A Chat with Novelist Brando Skyhorse". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
- ↑ Milliot, Jim (Sep 22, 2006). "Lyons Forms Skyhorse Publishing". Publishers Weekly. 253 (38). Retrieved January 11, 2012.
- ↑ "Interview with Brando Skyhorse". Simon & Schuster. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved January 16, 2013.