Partial list of publications: Winter Counts
Genres: Fiction
Awards: Nominated for the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Barry Award, Thriller Award, Macavity Award, Shamus Award, Reading the West Award, VCU Cabell First Novel Award, High Plains Book Award, Colorado Book Award, and the Hammett Prize
Current residence: Highlands Ranch, CO
Education
MFA, Creative Writing. Institute of American Indian Arts
Ph.D., Government. University of Texas at Austin
J.D., University of Denver, Sturm College of Law
B.A., University of Colorado at Boulder, 1989
Link
ABOUT
David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, is the author of the novel Winter Counts (Ecco, 2020), nominated for the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Barry Award, Thriller Award, Macavity Award, Shamus Award, Reading the West Award, VCU Cabell First Novel Award, High Plains Book Award, Colorado Book Award, and the Hammett Prize. The book was the winner of the Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel, the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel, and the Tillie Olsen Award.The novel was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, main selection of the Book of the Month Club, an Indie Next pick, and named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and other magazines. His short fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Shenandoah, Yellow Medicine Review and other magazines. He has short stories appearing or forthcoming in the anthologies Denver Noir, Midnight Hour, and This Time for Sure. Weiden is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship, a Ragdale Foundation residency, the PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship, and was a Tin House Scholar. He lives in Denver, Colorado, with his family. More information at davidweiden.com.
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENT
Full Professor (tenured) of Native American Studies and Political Science, Metropolitan State University of Denver; 2013-present
OTHER TEACHING APPOINTMENTS
Instructor, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Denver, Colorado; 2018-present
Visiting Faculty, Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA Program in Writing & Publishing; fall, 2020
PUBLICATIONS
Books:
WINTER COUNTS. Novel, August 2020 (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Award nominations: Edgar Award; Anthony Award; Hammett Prize; Barry Award; Thriller Award; Reading the West Award; VCU Cabell First Novel Award; High Plains Book Award; Colorado Book Award; Goodreads Choice Award Semifinalist; Book by the Year nominee by Book of the Month Club
Award winner: Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel and Best First Novel, Western Writers of America; Lefty Award for Best First Novel; Tillie Olsen Creative Writing Award
Honors: New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; Book of the Month Club main selection; named a Best Book of 2020 by 12 publications, including NPR, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Amazon; Best Books of August by Apple Books/Best Audiobooks of August; Indie Next Great Reads selection; BuzzFeed Book Club November selection; AWP Virtual Book Club selection
Reviews: Rave/positive reviews in two dozen publications, including New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, L.A. Times, and Publishers Weekly (starred).
WOUNDED HORSE. Novel, under contract/forthcoming 2022 (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Both novels to be published in France by Gallmeister Editions; Germany by Polar Verlag; United Kingdom by Simon & Schuster UK; Turkey by Ithaki; Poland by Tipi; and Japan by Hayakawa. Large print edition of WINTER COUNTS published by Wheeler/Thorndike.
SPOTTED TAIL. Children’s book, 2019 (Reycraft Books)
Winner of the 2020 Spur Award by the Western Writers of America; official selection for the state of South Dakota for the 2020 National Book Festival; finalist for the 2020 Colorado Book Awards for Juvenile Literature
Short stories and creative nonfiction:
“Colfax and Havana.” Denver Noir anthology, forthcoming 2022 from Akashic Books.
“Hooch.” HarperCollins European crime anthology, forthcoming 2022.
“Turning Heart.” Bouchercon 2021 anthology, This Time for Sure, forthcoming 2021.
“Skin.” Midnight Hour anthology, forthcoming September, 2021 from Crooked Lane Books.
“Carlisle Longings.” 2019. Shenandoah. Vol. 69 (1).
“Spork.” 2016. Transmotion. Vol. 2 (1 & 2).
“Sourtoe.” 2014. Tribal College Journal. Vol. 26 (1): 52.
“Winter Counts.” 2014. Yellow Medicine Review. Spring 2014: 181.
“Saltines.” 2012. Criminal Class Review. Vol. 5: 191.
“Apollo.” 2010. Foundling Review. 2010 (Issue 3).
Other nonfiction and essays:
“This 19th-Century Law Helps Shape Criminal Justice in Indian Country.” New York Times. July 19, 2020. Reprinted in Salt Lake Tribune, July 20, 2020.
“Distractions,” Poisoned Pen blog, August 19, 2020.
“Seven Essential Native American Crime Novels,” The Strand Magazine, September 5, 2020.
“Why Indigenous Crime Fiction Matters,” CrimeReads, September 9, 2020.
EDUCATION
MFA, Creative Writing. Institute of American Indian Arts, 2018
Ph.D., Government. University of Texas at Austin, 2007
J.D., University of Denver, Sturm College of Law, 1992
B.A., University of Colorado at Boulder, 1989
CREATIVE WRITING FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
AWP Mentor for emerging indigenous writers, 2020
Vermont Studio Center fellowship, forthcoming when pandemic subsides
Ragdale Foundation residency, summer 2019
MacDowell Fellow, June 2018
PEN/America, Writing for Justice Fellowship, 2018
Tin House Summer Workshop Scholar, summer 2019
VONA Workshop, 2017
Shortlist, Briarpatch Creative Nonfiction Award, 2019
Longlist, PRISM International Creative Nonfiction Award, 2018
Fiction Editor, Anomaly, journal of international literature and arts, 2018-2020
Winner, fiction category, Tribal College Journal writing contest, 2014
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Fiction editor, Anomaly, Journal of Literature and the Arts, www.anmly.org
Book review editor, Indigenous Policy Journal, www.indigenouspolicy.org
LITERATURE CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Tribute to Adrian C. Louis.” Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference, 2020.“Outsiders in Minority Fiction: When You’re From Where You’re Not Supposed to Be.” Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference, 2019.
“Native American and Latino Fiction: Intersections in Narrative as Form and Force.” Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference, 2018.
“No One Thinks They’re Racist: Conscious and Unconscious Bias and Racism in MFA Programs.” Panel organizer/chair and presenter, Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference, 2017.
“Spaceships and Detectives: Native American Fiction and the Literary Genre Novel.” Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference, 2017.
“Rewriting the Iconic West: Native and Latino Writers on Crafting Change.” Association of Writers & Writing Programs meeting, 2016.
“Situating Vizenor’s Chair of Tears in the Canon of Academic Novels.” Presented at the Native American Literature Symposium, 2015.
“Red Noir: Examining the Possibilities for Indigenous Crime Literature.” Presented at the Native American Literature Symposium, Minneapolis, MN, March 2014.
REPRESENTATION
Michelle Brower, Aevitas Creative Management (literary)
Kristina Moore and Ryan Wilson, Anonymous Content (film and television representation)
NATIVE NATION ENROLLMENT
Enrolled member, Sicangu Lakota nation (Rosebud Sioux Tribe)
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIPS
Active member: International Thriller Writers; Mystery Writers of America; Western Writers of AmericaMember: Association of Writers & Writing Programs; PEN America; Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers