Brando Skyhorse
BornEcho Park, California, U.S.
Alma materStanford University
University of California, Irvine
Notable awardsSue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction;
PEN/Hemingway Award

Brando Skyhorse (born Brandon Kelly Ulloa)[1] is an American author. He won the 2011 PEN/Hemingway Award[2][3] and the 2011 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction for his novel The Madonnas of Echo Park.[4]

Life

Skyhorse was born and raised in Echo Park, California and has degrees from Stanford University and from the MFA Writers' Workshop program at the University of California, Irvine.[5]

He shared the story of his complex ethnic identity development a 2014 NBC.com feature,[6] and later in an episode of the Snap Judgment podcast (#807 Born Identity; posted on March 24, 2017). He said that, through his childhood, his mother insisted they were Native Americans, and portrayed herself as a passionate activist for Native American rights. However, she later admitted this was not true: they were in fact both Mexican-American. She had adopted a Native American identity after being abandoned by Skyhorse's father, partly because she "just don’t want to be another Mexican girl in [heavily Latino] Echo Park", and to illustrate her belief that identity is a choice. Under his mother's assertive guidance, Skyhorse did things such as refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance to protest the treatment of Native Americans. In his early teens, Skyhorse began suspecting his mother was lying about their Native American ancestry from his early teens, but she resisted his questions about it. He continued to claim a Native American identity until her death in 1998, including on his application to Stanford University. He acknowledges feeling guilty and conflicted about this choice since then. Nonetheless, he also said that when he was 18, it would have been impossible for him to contradict his mother about their identity. He believes his story is an example of the complexity of racial and ethnic identity in the United States, and that it illustrates how adults affect their children's development of identity.

Skyhorse was a professional book editor prior to the success of Madonnas, which he wrote under the title Amexicans.[7][8] Skyhorse Publishing, where he worked as an editor, is named after him.[9]

As of February 2018, Skyhorse's personal website indicates he teaches English literature at Indiana University Bloomington.

Works

  • The Madonnas of Echo Park: A Novel. Simon and Schuster. 8 February 2011. ISBN 978-1-4391-7084-7.
  • Take This Man: A Memoir. Simon and Schuster. 3 June 2014. ISBN 978-1-4391-7087-8.

References

  1. ↑ "'Take This Man': Uncovering A Mother's Reinventions". NPR. 7 June 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  2. ↑ "Brando Skyhorse getting PEN/Hemingway Award". Associated Press. 26 March 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  3. ↑ North-Hager, Eddie (March 7, 2011). "Brando Skyhorse wins Hemingway Foundation/Pen Award for 'Madonnas of Echo Park' (+video interview)". Echo Park Online. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "Will You be My Father? Brando Skyhorse's 'Take This Man' is a Tearjerker". 5 June 2014.
  5. ↑ "Interview with Brando Skyhorse". Simon & Schuster. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved January 16, 2013.
  6. ↑ John Mackley (June 26, 2014) Brando Skyhorse: The Native American Who Wasn't, NBCNews.com, accessed 20 Feb 2018
  7. ↑ Neyfakh, Leon (April 16, 2009). "Free Press Bests Ecco, Twelve in Pursuit Of Short Stories by Former Grove Editor Brando Skyhorse". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  8. ↑ McKenna, Alix (9 July 2010). "The Weight of Invisibility: A Chat with Novelist Brando Skyhorse". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  9. ↑ Milliot, Jim (Sep 22, 2006). "Lyons Forms Skyhorse Publishing". Publishers Weekly. 253 (38). Retrieved January 11, 2012.
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