Becoming Story: A Journey Among Seasons, Places, Trees, and Ancestors

Now in paperback: a gently powerful memoir about deepening your relationship with your homeland.

＂A fascinating and evocative memoir in essays.＂--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Tribal chairman and celebrated storyteller Greg Sarris--whose novels are esteemed alongside those of Louise Erdrich and Stephen Graham Jones--invites us into intimate and contemplative scenes from his own life in Becoming Story. With this memoir-in-essays he asks: What does it mean to be truly connected to the place you call home--to walk where innumerable generations of your ancestors have walked? And what does it mean when you dedicate your life to making that connection even deeper?

Moving between his childhood and the present day, Sarris creates a kaleidoscopic narrative about the forces that shaped his early years and his eventual work as a tribal leader. He considers the fathomless past, historical traumas, and possible futures of his homeland. His acclaimed storytelling skills are in top form here, and he charts his journey in prose that is humorous, searching, and profound. Described as ＂jewellike＂ by the San Francisco Chronicle, Becoming Story is also a gently powerful guide in the art of belonging to the place where you live.

Greg Sarris is currently serving his sixteenth term as Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and his first term as board chair for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. His publications include Keeping Slug Woman Alive (1993), Grand Avenue (1994, reissued 2015), Watermelon Nights (1998, reissued 2021), How a Mountain Was Made (2017, published by Heyday), and Becoming Story (2022, published by Heyday). Greg lives and works in Sonoma County, California. Visit his website at greg-sarris.com.