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

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