“This is a novel of intimacy and poignancy but also an exploration of how war and racism affect people’s daily lives. As Cowney puts it, ‘Empathy is fossilized in our bones.’”―Elizabeth Blair, NPR

Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and resides in Qualla, NC with her husband, Evan and sons Ross and Charlie. She holds degrees from Yale University and the College of William and Mary. Her debut novel, Even As We Breathe, was released by the University Press of Kentucky in 2020, a finalist for the Weatherford Award and named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020. In 2021, it received the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. Her first novel manuscript, Going to Water is winner of the Morning Star Award for Creative Writing from the Native American Literature Symposium (2012) and a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction (2014).

Clapsaddle’s work has appeared in Yes! Magazine, Lit Hub, Smoky Mountain Living Magazine, South Writ Large Our State Magazine, Bon Appétit, Travel + Leisure Magazine and The Atlantic. After serving as executive director of the Cherokee Preservation Foundation, Annette returned to teaching at Swain County High School for over a dozen years. She is the former co-editor of the Journal of Cherokee Studies and serves on the Board of Directors for the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and is the President of the Board of Trustees for the North Carolina Writers Network. Clapsaddle established Bird Words, LLC in 2022 and works as an independent contractor and consultant. In 2023, in partnership with Museum of the Cherokee People, Clapsaddle launched “Confluence: An Indigenous Writers’ Workshop Series” that seeks to bring Indigenous writers to the Qualla Boundary (Cherokee, NC) to work with aspiring writers several times throughout the year.

Annette's Featured Titles

Even as We Breathe

Fireside Industries |
Fiction
Nineteen-year-old Cowney Sequoyah yearns to escape his hometown of Cherokee, North Carolina, in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. When a summer job at Asheville’s luxurious Grove Park Inn and Resort brings him one step closer to escaping the hills that both cradle and suffocate him, he sees it as an opportunity. With World War II raging in Europe, the inn is the temporary home of Axis diplomats and their families, who are being held as prisoners of war. Soon, Cowney’s refuge becomes a cage when the daughter of one of the residents goes missing and he finds himself accused of abduction and murder.

Even As We Breathe
invokes the elements of bone, blood, and flesh as Cowney navigates difficult social, cultural, and ethnic divides. After leaving the seclusion of the Cherokee reservation, he is able to explore a future free from the consequences of his family’s choices and to construct a new worldview, for a time. However, prejudice and persecution in the white world of the resort eventually compel Cowney to free himself from larger forces that hold him back as he struggles to unearth evidence of his innocence and clear his name.
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ANNETTE SAUNOOKE CLAPSADDLE PRESENTATION OPTIONS

Most presentations range from 45-60 minutes and can allow for Q&A. Additionally, most presentations can be adapted for workshops and youth audiences unless otherwise indicated.

From Myth to Fiction: Modernizing Traditional Stories, Folklore, and Tall Tales by Creating New Works

Analyzes examples of culturally significant stories from across the world and evaluates which features make them lasting and relevant today. Provides audiences with tools for modernizing their own traditional stories.

Tech: Projection. White Board (for small audiences)

Cherokee Core Value Leadership

An overview of traditional and modern Cherokee Leadership and its foundational core value system.

Tech: Projection.

Penning Collective Memory (not tailored for youth audiences)

An analysis of how Cherokee Literature and Native Literature more broadly have affected the Cherokee and National collective memory. This presentation addresses the role this collective memory plays in modern and potential future conflicts and social movements.

Tech: Projection.

Fictionalizing Native Characters

This presentation focuses on historical representations of Native characters in literature and the considerations modern authors (Native and non Native) make in regards to depicting Native American characters in engaging narratives with integrity and awareness of community, place, culture, and diversity.

Tech: Projection w/video & sound via internet connection

The Living Story: Infusing physical sensation into our writing through practice, observation, and structure

Reading is an intellectual and emotional activity, one that necessitates a physical experience. By employing our own bodies in the craft of writing to create new worlds, new experiences, and new energy, we empower our stories to invoke a corporeal experience. This presentation explores methods for infusing physical sensation into writing through practice, observation, and structure.

Tech: Projection w/video & sound via internet connection

Writing Of, In, and For Place. 

This presentation focuses on what it is like to experience specific landscapes and communities and the responsibilities we have when sharing it with others through our writing.

Tech: Projection

Understanding Modern Cherokee Identity through Literature

Modern Cherokee identity, comprising three federally recognized tribes, has a complex legal and cultural history that has been significantly influenced by early American literature and portrayals of Native peoples in media throughout the centuries. This presentation explores those roots and causes from the earliest examples of American Literature to current social justice movements.

Tech: Projection

Tell Your Artisan Story

Empowering Native artisans to create promotional narratives showcasing their unique history, traditions, and art.

Tech: Projection or handouts

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ANNETTE SAUNOOKE CLAPSADDLE WORKSHOP OPTIONS

From Myth to Fiction: Modernizing Traditional Stories, Folklore, and Tall Tales by Creating New Works

Type:  Generative Writing

Description: Participants will analyze examples of culturally significant stories from across the world and evaluate which features make them lasting and relevant today. Participants will then mine their own selections, ideally personal to them, and determine which genre is most appropriate for a creative revision. Participants will be guided through the process of creating outlines or complete drafts (dependent on genre) of their new work with adherence to authentic voice and originality.

Timeframe: Originally designed as a five-week course, this workshop can be adapted to meet any time frame of 3+ hours.

Capacity: Max 10

Cherokee Leadership

Type: History, Culture, and Skill-building

Description: An overview of traditional and modern Cherokee Leadership and its foundational core value system. The workshop will help participants develop their own values-driven leadership style with greater emphasis on consensus building.

Timeframe: ½ day

Capacity: Max 20

Penning Collective Memory (not tailored for youth participants)

Type: Cherokee Literature and Cultural analysis presentation

Description: An analysis of how Cherokee Literature and Native Literature more broadly have affected the Cherokee and National collective memory. This presentation addresses the role this collective memory plays in modern and potential future conflicts and social movements. While largely a presentation format, participants will be given the opportunity to engage with the texts in a more discovery-based learning atmosphere.

Timeframe: 1.5-2 hrs

Capacity: 15

Fictionalizing Native Characters

Description: This presentation focuses on historical representations of Native characters in literature and the considerations modern authors (Native and non Native) make in regards to depicting Native American characters in engaging narratives with integrity and awareness of community, place, culture, and diversity. Specifically, I will address my perspective as Native American author, rooted in a tribal community, in regards to developing my own work’s characters.

Timeframe: 1.5+ hrs

Capacity: No Max

Novel Workshop series

Description: This series of mini workshops focuses on topics of Voice, Structure, Setting and Movement within the modern novel. Each workshop will include craft instructure and generative activities to meet attendees needs. The full series provides opportunities for instructor feedback on student excerpts.

Timeframe: This workshop can expand or contract as needed and can be taught as a whole series of topics or focused on any specific segment. A whole series would require 5, 2 hr sessions approx.

Capacity: Max for full series 15

The Living Story: Infusing physical sensation into our writing through practice, observation, and structure

Description: Reading is an intellectual and emotional activity, one that necessitates a physical experience. Our bodies both trigger and are triggered by sensory memory. We may not remember a conversation with a loved one, but we remember the coldness of their touch, how heavy the words felt in our ears, or the smell of their skin. By employing our own bodies in the craft of writing to create new worlds, new experiences, and new energy, we empower our stories to invoke a corporeal experience. Explore methods for infusing physical sensation into your writing through practice, observation, and structure. All levels welcome.

Timeframe: 1.5 hrs + (adaptable)

Capacity: No Max

Writing Of, In, and For Place. 

Description: Reading is an intellectual and emotional activity, one that necessitates a physical experience. By employing our own bodies in the craft of writing to create new worlds, new experiences, and new energy, we empower our stories to invoke a corporeal experience that is rooted in place. Explore methods for infusing physical sensation and environmental awareness into your writing through practice, observation, and structure. We will focus on what it is like to experience a specific landscape and communities and the responsibilities we have when sharing it with others through our writing. This workshop is applicable to fiction and creative nonfiction writers. All levels welcome.

Timeframe: 6 hrs

Capacity: 15

That’s What She Said: The Art of Dialog

Description: Participants will be presented with exemplar texts in literary dialog, led through an analysis of these texts, and be provided with prompted opportunities to improve their craft of fictional dialog.

Timeframe: 6 hrs

Capacity: 15

Finding the Line: Designing Structure of Narrative

Description: This workshop will lead participants through various textual examples from multi-genre literature in an analysis of structure, with discussion of effectiveness of each piece. Participants will then work within their chosen genre to respond to a series of prompts that will help them evaluate their own structural choices.

Timeframe: 6 hrs

Capacity: 15

Annette’s Publications

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Honors, Awards & Recognition

Finalist for the Weatherford Award
NPR’s Best Books of 2020
Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award
Morning Star Award for Creative Writing from the Native American Literature Symposium
PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction Finalist

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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