Thomas King

"The truth about stories is that that's all we are."
(King, The Truth about Stories 2)

In his stories, novels, lectures and broadcasts Thomas King discusses profound cultural and social issues while demonstrating his own sense of humour which reflects an understanding and acceptance of human nature. In his review of King's first novel, Medicine River, Gary Draper states that the narrator Wil, good-natured and relaxed, with his understated deadpan humour, seems to be a reflection of the author whose comedic writing does not conceal the sorrows associated with "domestic violence, alcolholism, crime and imprisonment."

Born in 1943 in Sacramento, California, to a Cherokee father and a Greek mother, Thomas King grew up in a single parent home. He was abandoned by his father at the age of three or four. He was raised by his mother who supported herself and two sons in a world where the workforce was dominated by men. King had a wide variety of work experiences including being a management trainee at a bank, a member of a ship's crew, a deer-culler, a photographer and a journalist before he settled into a career as an academic and a writer.

King received his PhD in English literature at the University of Utah, and the worked as the chair of the American Indian Studies program at the University of Minnesota. For ten years, he taught in the Native Studies program at the University of Lethbridge and he is now a Canadian citizen.

In addition to his career as a scholar and writer, Thomas King also wrote and performed on the radio show Dead Dog Cafe Comedy Hour which continues to have a presence at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's web site although the program is now off the air. Playing the role of an aboriginal person who has lost touch with his cultural roots, King used humour to promote awareness of Native cultures and political issues.

As a professor of English at the University of Guelph, Thomas King specializes in Native Literature and Creative Writing. In 2003 he became the first speaker of Native descent to deliver the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Massey Lectures.