N. Scott Momaday

Kathryn Napier Gray (University of Plymouth)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.6: Indigenous Writing and Culture of North America - United States.
Vol. editors: Joshua Bartlett (High Point University), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Sarah Henzi (Simon Fraser University), Padraig Kirwan (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

Born 27 Feb 1934
Died 24 Jan 2024
Activity 1967-2024

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Genres and Modes

Folk Literature

Cultural Identities

First Nations/Indigenous US-American

Activities

Primary

Essayist
Novelist
Poet
Story-writer

Other

Autobiographer
Children's/Young Adult writer
Painter

Resources

In 1969 N. Scott Momaday stunned the publishing world when he received a Pulitzer Prize for his first novel, House Made of Dawn (1968). This critical success established Momaday as one of the most exciting and influential Native American writers of the post-war period. Following this success, Momaday published two accounts of his Kiowa heritage and family background in The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969) and The Names: A Memoir (1976). In these recollections Momaday weaves together poetry, prose, photographs and illustrations, to create an elaborate and intricate textual design. He has also published three collections of poetry: Angle of Geese and other Poems (1974), The Gourd Dancer (1976), and In The Bear's House (1999), as well as one other novel, The Ancient Child (1989). In the Presence of the Sun (1992), a thirty-year retrospective...

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2282 words

Citation: Napier Gray, Kathryn. "N. Scott Momaday". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 April 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5495, accessed 21 February 2026.]