Tommy Orange

Tommy Orange (born January 19, 1982) is an American novelist and writer from Oakland, California. His first book, There There, was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and received the 2019 American Book Award. In October 2025, Orange was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

Orange is a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He earned a master's degree in fine arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts. He was born and raised in the Dimond District of Oakland, California, and resides there.

Early life Orange was born in Oakland, California, on January 19, 1982. From age 14 to 24, Orange played roller hockey on a national level. He began playing music at the age of 18. Orange's father was a Native American ceremony leader, while his white mother converted for a time to Christianity. After graduating from SAE Expression College with a Bachelor of Science degree in sound arts, Orange worked at Gray Wolf Books, a bookstore in San Leandro, where he developed a passion for reading and thus began writing.

Education Orange obtained a bachelor's degree in audio engineering and later a Master of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA). He now teaches at the IAIA in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Writing career In addition to his novels, Orange has published a profile of a Native American teen (17-year-old Jeffrey Martinez) for Esquire magazine in 2019, portraying what life is like for a Native American today. Orange has also published short stories in the literary magazines McSweeney’s, Zoetrope: All-Story, and Zyzzyva.

Orange participated in an episode of The Archive Project at the 2019 Sun Valley Writers' Conference. In the episode, he states that in many ways There There was for his dad and about his dad, whom he described as someone "very secure in their Indianness and doesn’t necessarily teach it to their kids".

Orange's second novel, Wandering Stars, was featured on the cover of the March 2024 issue of BookPage magazine. The cover story featured an article by Orange regarding the inspiration and process of completing the novel. He expressed significant concern that a follow-up novel to There There could be perceived as "lowbrow" before it was released. He wrote that a sequel felt "Like it belonged in the Marvel-Universe of decision-making, like people would think it was a cash grab even though I made the decision before the success of There There". and the American Book Award, denoting "an outstanding literary achievement".

There There also received nominations for other recognitions, including the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Audie Award for Multi-voiced Performance, and two from Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Fiction and Best Debut Goodreads Author. It was selected by the American Library Association as a Notable Book in 2025.

Wandering Stars was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize.

In October 2025, Tommy Orange was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, popularly known as the MacArthur Foundation's "Genius Awards."

Personal life Orange lives in Oakland, California, with his wife, Kateri, and his sons, Felix and Solomon.

Works

Novels

There There (Alfred A. Knopf, 2018. ) Wandering Stars (Alfred A. Knopf, 2024. )

Short stories "Capgras" in Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (September 19, 2023)