Tommy Orange’s ‘Wandering Stars’ Examines the Legacy and Consequences of Cultural Erasure

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

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Summary

In his latest novel “Wandering Stars,” Oakland writer Tommy Orange traces the stories of the Native Americans who populated his celebrated debut, “There There.” The book, which is both prequel and sequel, begins with the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre and the opening of the first Native American residential school in the U.S whose mission, according to its founder, was to “Kill the Indian to save the man.” Orange examines how you can create identity and connection when your family inheritance embeds thick seams of generational trauma, cultural erasure, and violence. We’ll talk to Orange about his novel. Guests: Tommy Orange, author, "Wandering Stars," "There There," and "Normal Ain't Normal" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:30.3	From KQED.
0:31.3	Thank you. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:46.6	Tommy Orange burst onto the national literary scene in 2018 with his stunning debut novel,
0:51.9	There There, a book that traced one urban Native American family's path around Oakland.
0:57.0	The book signaled and catalyzed a sea change in how stories about native people would be told.
1:02.0	And his new follow-up Wondering Stars, publishing today, is both a prequel and a sequel to that debut.
1:09.0	It's dark, but not quite grim and filled with brilliant people
1:12.0	who disappoint and are disappointed
1:13.7	in themselves and their country.
1:16.6	Wandering Stars deepens and extends
1:18.0	many of the themes of their,
1:19.5	family legacy, addiction,
	...

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