Yeahpau, Thomas M. 1975–

Personal

Born 1975; married; children: two. Education: Haskell Indian Nations University, degree (liberal arts).

Addresses

Home and office—Los Angeles, CA.

Career

Author.

Awards, Honors

ABC/Disney talent development writing fellowship, 2005.

Writings

X-Indian Chronicles: The Book of Mausape, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2006.

Sidelights

Thomas M. Yeahpau displays his versatility as a writer by ranging in genre from short stories to film scripts. While in college, Yeahpau attended a film-and-television writing workshop that garnered him a Disney fellowship that created the opportunity to work under the tute- lage of professional writers. In an interview for the Lawrence, Kansas online journal Lawrence, Yeahpau commented that one of his goals as a writer is to capture the attention of his audience: "A lot of people want to preach and teach, I just want to entertain."

In X-Indian Chronicles: The Book of Mausape, a collection of short stories, Yeahpau ties together several tales through his title character, Mausape Outlaw. A Native American who struggles to define his own identity against his culture, Mausape is joined by several friends in dealing with life's difficulties. Yeahpau intersperses themes of drugs and alcohol, sex, and anger into his stories, reflecting the concerns of many teen readers. Reviewers consistently commented on the grittiness of Yeahpau's stories, as well as his inclusion of graphic scenes. Hazel Rochman, in her review of X-Indian Chronicles for Booklist, dubbed Yeahpau an "honest, young writer," but noted that his collection, featuring "urban slang laced with obscenity, is bleak, erotic, and often violent." A Publishers Weekly contributor also acknowledged the author's realistic depiction of his characters and regarded Yeahpau's collection as composed of "finely crafted, raw and gritty tales." In Kirkus Reviews a critic commented that the stories in X-Indian Chronicles

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"are notable for their setting and voice; they are crude and tender, hideous and funny, resonant stories."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

American Indian Culture and Research, summer, 2007, Michael Snyder, review of X-Indian Chronicles: The Book of Mausape, p. 251.

Booklist, February 1, 2007, Hazel Rochman, review of X-Indian Chronicles, p. 44.

Horn Book, November-December, 2006, Roger Sutton, review of X-Indian Chronicles, p. 729.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2006, review of X-Indian Chronicles, p. 1126.

Publishers Weekly, January 1, 2007, review of X-Indian Chronicles, p. 52.

ONLINE

Candlewick Press Web site,http://www.candlewick.com/ (January 12, 2008), "Thomas M. Yeahpau."

Lawrence Web site (Lawrence, KS), http://www.lawrence.com/ (August 18, 2005), "Haskell Filmmaker Headed to Hollywood."