"Adrian Jawort's edited volumes collecting new voices, voices we've never heard but needed to, are volumes worthy of the world's deepest consideration. The voices collected in Off the Path 1, and Off the Path 2, anthologies of 21st Century Montana American Indian and Indiginous writers are vital, fierce, unafraid of darkness, and elegant in their understanding of human nature. Writers such as Luella N. Brien, Eric Leland Bigman Brien, Cinnamon Spear, Theo Van Alst, Kristiana Kahakuawila, Sterling HolyWhiteMountain and Jawort himself sing of contemporary and ancient darkness even as they circumscribe the mysteries of illumination between people, across cultures, and within worlds so compelling I was left with an experience I'm grateful to have encountered in the life of these two stunning volumes: greater life, more awe at the fear that exists between people, and greater grace." Shann Ray, American Book Award Winner With uninhibited writing as stark as a wintery windblown Montana prairie that shivers through your skin and settles into your bones, the all original and powerful works of The Off the Path anthology are not afraid to be daring, bold, and go to where your heart craves to go-even if it didn't know it yet.
About the Author: -Sterling HolyWhiteMountain grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation, where he lived the first part of his life according to the laws of the local basketball religion. He holds a BA in English Creative Writing from the University of Montana, a Masters in Creative Writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and was a James C. McCreight Fiction Fellow at the University of Wisconsin. Currently he is working on a collection of novellas & stories, and is taking classes toward a BA in Native American Studies at the University of Montana. -Cinnamon Spear is a Northern Cheyenne woman, writer, and documentary filmmaker. She was raised in a large family on the reservation in Lame Deer, Montana. She earned her Bachelors and Masters degrees from Dartmouth College.... -A lifelong Montana resident, Northern Cheyenne Adrian L. Jawort has been a journalist for some 12 very odd years. As well as writing for various indie newspapers, he writes for several nationally distributed publications, and is a continual correspondent and columnist for Indian Country Today Media Network. He also has a dark fantasy novel under his belt, Moonrise Falling, and is the founder of Off the Pass Press LLC which aims to find unconventional beauty in literature off the beaten path.... -Luella N. Brien, Apsáalooké, graduated from The University of Montana School of Journalism in 2006, where she was the first student editor and contributor for UM's trailblazing reznetnews.org. A 2002 graduate of the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute, Brien was also the president of the Native American Journalism Association's (NAJA) first student chapter, chartered in 2005. She's alumni of the prestigious Chips Quinn Scholars Program and the Associated Press's Diverse Voices Program, both aimed at increasing minority presence in the newsroom. -Eric L. BigMan Brien is a member of the Crow (Apsáalooké) Tribe. He is the proud father of four beautiful and talented children. He credits his numerous teachers, Grandmother Beverly and sister Luella as those who have inspired him to write. When he is not writing he moonlights as an Elvis impersonator and enjoys reading religious tracks, travel brochures and medical pamphlets....