Tim Tingle is an Oklahoma Choctaw and an award-winning author and storyteller. His great-great grandfather, John Carnes, walked the Trail of Tears in 1835, and his paternal grandmother attended a series of rigorous Indian boarding schools in the early 1900’s. In 1993, Tingle retraced the Trail of Tears to Choctaw homelands in Mississippi and began recording stories of tribal elders.

Tingle was a featured author and speaker at the 2014 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., based on critical acclaim for How I Became a Ghost, which won the 2014 American Indian Youth Literature Award. The second book in the series, When A Ghost Talks, Listen, is expected to be released in the Spring of 2016.

His first children’s book, Crossing Bok Chitto, garnered over twenty state and national awards, and was an Editor’s Choice in the New York Times Book Review. In June of 2011, Tingle spoke at the Library of Congress and presented his first performance at the Kennedy Center, in Washington, D.C. He received his Masters Degree in English Literature at the University of Oklahoma in 2003, with a focus on American Indian studies. While teaching writing courses and completing his thesis, “Choctaw Oral Literature,” Tingle wrote his first book, Walking the Choctaw Road. It was selected as Book of the Year in both Oklahoma and Alaska.

As a visiting author and performer, Tingle reaches audiences numbering over 200,000 annually. He has completed eight speaking tours for the U.S. Department of Defense, performing stories to children of military personnel stationed in Germany.

In February of 2016, his novel “House Of Purple Cedar” won the American Indian Youth Literature Award.

Tim Tingle Resumé and Book Information

College degrees (with institutions and dates):

            B.A., The University of Texas at Austin, 1974

            M.A., The University of Oklahoma, 2003

Fellowships and academic honors:

            Graduate Teaching Fellowship, University of Oklahoma, 1998-99

            President’s Academic List, University of Oklahoma, 1998-99

Professional honors:

Inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters, 2012

Talking Leaves Award, 2009, presented by the National Storytelling Network

John Henry Faulk Award, 2003, presented by the Tejas Storytelling Association                       

Oracle Award, 2003, presented by the National Storytelling Network           

Book awards:

Texas Ghost Stories: Fifty Favorites for the Telling

                        Winner, Best Anthology, Storytelling World Magazine, 2005

Crossing Bok Chitto:

                        Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, 2008-2009

                        2008 American Indian Young Literature Award,

                                    American Library Association                     

                        2007 American Library Association Notable Book

                        Teddy Award, Best Children’s Book, Texas Writer’s League, 2006                                                                     

                        Editor’s Choice, New York Times Book Review, 2006

                        Texas Institute of Letters Best Children’s Book, 2006

Walking the Choctaw Road

                        Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma Book of the Year, 2005

                        Alaska Reads! Book of the Year, 2005

                        Notable Book for a Global Society, 2003, International Reading Assoc.                                                       

                        Notable Audiobook, IRA, 2004

                        Finalist, Institute of Texas Letters Young Adult Book Award, 2004                                                                   

                        2004 Winner, Best Anthology, Storytelling World Magazine              

Saltypie

                        Notable Book for a Global Society, 2011, International Reading Assoc.                                                          

                        American Library Association Notable Book              

House of Purple Cedar

            Notable Book for a Global Society, 2015, International  Reading Assoc.                                                                     

            Oklahoma Book Award Finalist, 2015

Kirkus Books Recommended Reading                                   

Books:

No Name, June, 2014, Pathways

House of Purple Cedar, 2014, Cinco Puntos Press

Danny Blackgoat, Rugged Road to Freedom, 2014, Pathways

How I Became a Ghost, May, 2013, Roadrunner Press

Danny Blackgoat, Navajo Prisoner, June, 2013, Pathways

Saltypie, 2010, Cinco Puntos Press

More Spooky Texas Tales, 2010, Texas Tech University Press

Trickster, 2010, Fulcrum Press

When Turtle Grew Feathers, 2007, August House Publishing

Crossing Bok Chitto, 2006, Cinco Puntos Press

Spirits Dark and Light: Supernatural Stories of the Five Civilized Nations, 2006,         

August House Publishing

Spooky Texas Tales, 2005, Texas Tech University Press

Texas Ghost Stories: Fifty Favorites for the Telling, 2004,

            Texas Tech University Press

Walking the Choctaw Road, 2003, Cinco Puntos Press