Aaron John Curtis, an enrolled member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, presents his debut novel about a Kanien’kehá:ka from Ahkwesáhsne and and what it takes to heal when he returns home to the Rez.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Abe Jacobs is Kanien'kehá ka from Ahkwesáhsne--or, as white people say, a Mohawk Indian from the Saint Regis Tribe. At eighteen, Abe left the reservation where he was raised and never looked back.
Now forty-three, Abe is suffering from a rare disease--one his doctors in Miami believe will kill him. Running from his diagnosis and a failing marriage, Abe returns to the Rez, where he's persuaded to undergo a healing at the hands of his Great Uncle Budge. But Budge--a wry, recovered alcoholic prone to wearing punk T-shirts--isn't all that convincing. And Abe's time off the Rez has made him a thorough skeptic.
To heal, Abe will undertake a revelatory journey, confronting the parts of himself he's hidden ever since he left home and learning to cultivate hope, even at his darkest hour.
Delivered with crackling wit, Old School Indian is a striking exploration of the power and secrets of family, the capacity for healing and catharsis, and the ripple effects of history and culture.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aaron John Curtis is an enrolled member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, which he'll tell you is the white name for the American side of Akwesasne. Aaron has judged for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Prizes, the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, and the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Since 2004, Aaron has been quartermaster at Books & Books, Miami's largest independent bookstore. He lives in Miami.
This event is at our Phoenix location at 300 West Camelback Road, steps from the uptown Light Rail stop and directly across from the Park and Ride at Third Ave and Camelback.
