Photo courtesy of author
Terra Trevor is an essayist and the author of two memoirs, We Who Walk the Seven Ways (University of Nebraska Press), and Pushing up the Sky (Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network). She is a contributor to fifteen books in Native studies, Native literature, creative nonfiction and memoir. Her essays have appeared in many anthologies including: Tending the Fire: Native Voices and Portraits (University of New Mexico Press), Children of the Dragonfly: Native American Voices on Child Custody and Education (The University of Arizona Press), The People Who Stayed: Southeastern Indian Writing After Removal (University of Oklahoma Press), Unpapered: Writers Consider Native American Identity and Cultural Belonging (University of Nebraska Press), Voices Confronting Pediatric Brain Tumors (Johns Hopkins University Press), Take A Stand: Art Against Hate: A Raven Chronicles Anthology, and in numerous other books and literary journals.
Terra is the granddaughter of sharecroppers, born in 1953, and raised in a large extended family in a banjo and fiddle tradition, rich with storytelling and music. She came of age in Compton, California, where her childhood was divided between the city and camping in the Sierra Nevada mountains, pulling dinner from a lake. Of mixed descent, including Cherokee, Lenape, Seneca and German, her stories are steeped in themes of place and belonging, and are shaped and infused by her identity as a mixed-blood and her connection to the landscape. She lives with her family on the California coast, based between the ocean and redwoods, and calls the mountains home.
Short Bio
Terra Trevor is an essayist and the author of We Who Walk the Seven Ways: A Memoir (University of Nebraska Press). She is a contributor to fifteen books in Native studies, Native literature, creative nonfiction and memoir. Her essays have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals. Of mixed descent, including Cherokee, Lenape, Seneca and German, her stories are steeped in themes of place and belonging, and are shaped and infused by her identity as a mixed-blood and her connection to the landscape. She lives with her family on the California coast, based between the ocean and redwoods.
Alternate Short Bio
Terra Trevor is an essayist who draws from her Native roots and the natural world. Her stories are steeped in themes of place and belonging. She is the author of two memoirs, We Who Walk the Seven Ways and Pushing up the Sky. In addition to her solo work, she is a contributor to fifteen books in Native studies, Native literature, creative nonfiction and memoir. Her essays have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals.
Micro Bio
Terra Trevor is the author of We Who Walk the Seven Ways: A Memoir (University of Nebraska Press). She is a contributor to fifteen books in Native Studies, Native literature, creative nonfiction and memoir. Her essays have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals.
Terra Trevor: About my life and work
I’m an essayist and storyteller. I began writing and publishing in 1984. The first twenty years I wrote feature articles, personal essays and penned columns in magazines. My readership grew and in 2006 I published my first book, a memoir. A new path opened when I began receiving invitations to contribute essays to anthologies. Searching for a place to stand I found my voice while writing stories steeped in themes of place and belonging, infused and shaped by my identity as a mixed-blood. While collaborating with other authors I discovered my deep love of working with a collective of voices, with each of us telling our single story, working together to bring forth a whole book. In addition to my solo work, I’m a contributor to fifteen books.
For every success we have I believe it’s important to remember how we got there. I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish all that I have without the guidance from good people who gave their time to me, mentoring, shepherding and guiding me. I owe much gratitude to my literary elders who showed me the way and taught me to hold the door open, give back and help others where I can.
There have been years when I wrote within the nooks and crannies of my life. Balancing motherhood and writing, with a baby on my lap, the dogs sleeping at my feet, while the cat walked across my keyboard. Writing while working as a director with American Indian Health. As a coordinator with a pediatric brain tumor organization, as a director of volunteers with Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care. Volunteering with KAAN: Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network as one of the early leaders, beginning in 1998 through 2016. As a coordinator in South Korea with KAAN's Friends of Korea Family Exchange Program. At a youth crisis shelter for at-risk teens, and foster youth in transition. With CASA as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster youth and teens. In schools, and with writers and storytellers workshops and mentoring cores.
Now, in my seventies, I'm still writing within the nooks and crannies of my life, often after mornings of wandering hills and valleys with grandkids and dogs, and I give readings, sit on discussion panels, and visit with book groups.