Brandon Hobson: Author of "Where the Dead Sit Talking" Discusses Displacement, Identity and Writing About Violence and Trauma
Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson is a novel that haunting me, days after reading. Set in the 1980’s in rural Oklahoma, Sequoyah, a fifteen-year-old Cherokee boy, is placed in foster care with the Troutt family, while his mother is in jail. There he meets Rosemary, another teenager living with the Troutts, who is also Native American. They form a complex and heartbreaking relationship as the two bond over their shared Native background, life in the foster care system and the deep wounds they carry. Where the Dead Sit Talking is a dark, honest portrayal of displacement, loneliness, and coming-of-age in a young boy who desperately searches for who he is and where he fits in the world around him. Hobson’s sharp prose and visceral language are what make this novel about trauma and the modern Indigenous person’s experience so haunting and memorable.
I caught up with the National Book Award finalist via email where he discusses the foster care system, writing about violence, displacement and Native identity.
I'd love to know what sparked the idea for your novel, Where the Dead Sit Talking.
I was interested in writing about displacement and Native teens in non-Native foster care. I was also very interested in the idea of obsession and Native identity, which I think is important to understanding Sequoyah's character.
Identity is very much at the forefront of this novel as Sequoyah deals with both his gender identity and Native American identity. These are big questions for a teenager, never mind one living with a sense of displacement in the foster care system. Did you know right away that Sequoyah was going to struggle with both identities?
Yes, one of the things I was trying to do was focus on his questioning his identity. He wears eyeliner, is obsessed with Rosemary and her clothes, wanting to look like her. He's very androgynous in this way. I wanted him to be young and androgynous.
I found Rosemary and Sequoyah's relationship particularly moving and heartbreaking. Between being the only Indengious kids in the Troutt's home to sharing a kind of vulnerability that comes from being abandoned and displaced, they share a special connection — one that Sequoyah tries to fully understand. As a reader, I felt this along with him. You write about these broken, wounded teenagers so beautifully. How did you tap into the mindsets of both these teenagers? Was it a challenge?
For about seven years I worked with teenagers in the foster care system and teenagers who were locked up. I listened to their stories. I also wanted Sequoyah and Rosemary to share a sort of spiritual connection. He thinks he hears her thoughts. He can feel when she's near. Part of this has to do with obsession, but most of it is spiritual.
Sequoyah has many experiences with vivid dreams at night as well as fantastical daydreams throughout his day. He also has fantasies of violence, often after times of trauma or emotional moments. Can you speak more about this? Are his violent impulses a type of coping mechanism? Or a result of past trauma?
I think both. One of the questions I get asked a lot is whether he is dangerous, but I think many kids who have experienced violence and trauma tend to fantasize or use it as a coping mechanism. Maybe in this way the novel is a horror novel. Maybe you can read it that way, or you can read it as a realistic portrayal of a wounded mind.
I'm also interested in your interpretation of dreams—do you find them meaningful or look to them for guidance?
I do feel dreams can connect us and can be spiritual. For example, my two uncles who both died visited me in a dream during the writing of my new book. There was a specific purpose in their visit! I was alone in my hotel room at the Miami Book Festival, and they came floating on water to tell me they were proud of me. I woke heavy of breath and very happy to see them!
As a member of the Cherokee tribe, do you know much about your family history?
Yes. My ancestors walked the Trail of Tears. I'm an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, where I grew up and lived my whole life until just recently.
How long did it take you to write this novel? Do you keep a writing schedule or routine?
I think about two years. I'm a very disciplined writer. I don't have a specific schedule, but I write whenever I can.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers? What keeps you going as a writer?
The usual advice: read the good stuff and keep hope. Hope!
Brandon Hobson earned a PhD in Creative Writing from Oklahoma State University and is the author, most recently, of the novel Where the Dead Sit Talking, which was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award. His next novel will be published by Ecco/Harpercollins. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at New Mexico State University and a Writing Mentor at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Hobson is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation Tribe of Oklahoma.
