Wong I
Camrin Wong
Mrs. Orloff
English I
3 April 2015
Luci Tapahonso Author Biography
“The Snakeman” was written by a Navajo native, Luci Tapahonso. She was born in Shiprock, New Mexico, and her home was a
farm within the Navajo Native American culture. Luci Tapahonso is a member of the Salt Water village of the Navajo people as
well. She was born in 1953 and began to attend the Navajo Methodist Mission school then went to Shiprock High School. Her
start in journalism began in 1976 at the University of New Mexico where she met Leslie Marmon Silko, a famous poet who aided
Luci Tapahonso with her literature skills. Among many literary critics and fellow Native American writers, she is usually known as
a rising star. Tapahonso then married a man named Earl Ortiz who was an illustrator and they started doing collaborations on
future projects.
Through literature, Tapahonso also describes the history of her people, the Navajos and combines their culture and life to the
present. In the story "The Snakeman", a story that was descended from the Native American generation is meshed with events
from her experiences at a Christian boarding school on a Navajo reservation. Patricia Clark Smith, writer about Earthly Relations
at Carnal Knowledge deems the story as "the tale is at once a piece of psychological and sociological realism." She has lived in
New Mexico ever since she was born, but has been to different Navajo reservations and spoke their language almost all of her
life. When she writes stories, she usually imagines them in the Navajo culture and slowly begins translating them into English so
her basis of a story consistently has a relation with the Native American culture.
Camrin Wong
Mrs. Orloff
English I
3 April 2015
Luci Tapahonso Author Biography
“The Snakeman” was written by a Navajo native, Luci Tapahonso. She was born in Shiprock, New Mexico, and her home was a
farm within the Navajo Native American culture. Luci Tapahonso is a member of the Salt Water village of the Navajo people as
well. She was born in 1953 and began to attend the Navajo Methodist Mission school then went to Shiprock High School. Her
start in journalism began in 1976 at the University of New Mexico where she met Leslie Marmon Silko, a famous poet who aided
Luci Tapahonso with her literature skills. Among many literary critics and fellow Native American writers, she is usually known as
a rising star. Tapahonso then married a man named Earl Ortiz who was an illustrator and they started doing collaborations on
future projects.
Through literature, Tapahonso also describes the history of her people, the Navajos and combines their culture and life to the
present. In the story "The Snakeman", a story that was descended from the Native American generation is meshed with events
from her experiences at a Christian boarding school on a Navajo reservation. Patricia Clark Smith, writer about Earthly Relations
at Carnal Knowledge deems the story as "the tale is at once a piece of psychological and sociological realism." She has lived in
New Mexico ever since she was born, but has been to different Navajo reservations and spoke their language almost all of her
life. When she writes stories, she usually imagines them in the Navajo culture and slowly begins translating them into English so
her basis of a story consistently has a relation with the Native American culture.