Tommy Orange spoke during Montana State University’s convocation, addressing the incoming freshman class from a large stage inside the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. Orange shared memories of his first artist residency in nearby Basin, Montana.
“The last time I was in Bozeman was 15 years ago in 2009 and in many ways it was the very beginning of my life as a writer," Orange said.
After the 30 day residency, Orange said he had written 30 pages of a now abandoned novel, about a boy named Jim living on a reservation.
“I didn't know then how to write about my own experience as a Native person, how do I physically write about my own life, so I resorted to what I thought was the only authentic way to write about Native American people—on reservations,“ Orange said.
Orange said the feeling of failing to become a writer followed him around for years, but he encouraged students to take failure as a part of the path to success. Orange found success with his debut novel There There set in his hometown of Oakland.
“I found writing ‘There There’ to express who I am and who the community I come from was a way to express a complexity too often simplified about being a native person living now in cities on reservations and all the places in between we are alive and thriving,“ Orange said.
Orange gave a special shout out to the more than 800 Native American students enrolled at MSU and encouraged all students to take the opportunity in higher education to not only learn about the world, but themselves.
“All of us, we are made of stories and more than that we are made of the stuff stories are made of and we are made of the stuff that makes us want to tell stories to tell the stories only we can tell," Orange said.
Orange’s first novel is currently being adapted for TV and the follow-up book, Wandering Stars was long listed for the Booker Prize, making him the first Native American ever long-listed for the prize.
