Aaron John Curtis in Conversation with Mona Susan Power

A coming-of-middle-age novel about an Ahkwesáhsne man's reluctant return home and what it takes to heal.

Abe Jacobs is Kanien'kehá ka from Ahkwesáhsne--or, as white people say, a Mohawk Indian from the Saint Regis Tribe. At eighteen Abe left the reservation where he was raised and never looked back. Now forty-three, Abe is suffering from a rare disease--one his doctors in Miami believe will kill him. Running from his diagnosis and a failing marriage, Abe returns to the Rez, where he's convinced to undergo a healing at the hands of his Great Uncle Budge. But Budge--a wry recovered alcoholic prone to wearing punk t-shirts--isn't all that convincing. And Abe's time off the Rez has made him a thorough skeptic. To heal, Abe will undertake a revelatory journey, confronting the parts of himself he's hidden ever since he left home and learning to cultivate hope, even at his darkest hour.

Delivered with crackling wit, Old School Indian is a striking exploration of the power and secrets of family, the capacity for healing and catharsis, and the ripple effects of history and culture.

“With its profound exploration of identity, language, and cultural survival, Old School Indian is a novel of pure heart and mastery. Through the vivid and deeply human lives of a Mohawk family, Curtis weaves a narrative that is both urgent and timeless, drawing us into a world where every word, every action, carries the weight of history and the hope for the future.”

- MORGAN TALTY, AUTHOR OF NIGHT OF THE LIVING REZ AND FIRE EXIT

“Old School Indian is an inspired novel by an author whose voice absolutely sizzles on the page. Aaron John Curtis has given us a moving story of self-discovery that journeys through the crucibles of sickness, history, identity, family, and loss—all told by one of the most inventive, funny, brash narrators you’ll ever find. A beautiful, dazzling debut.”

- NATHAN HILL, NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WELLNESS AND THE NIX

“Aaron John Curtis gives us honest storytelling shaped by humor, sincerity, and heartbreak. His characters are drawn with strength from his Indigenous community and skillfully cured by tradition and hope. Old School Indian is a novel that reminds us of an essential truth: when one person heals the entire community can feel it.”

- OSCAR HOKEAH, PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF CALLING FOR A BLANKET DANCE

Aaron John Curtis is an enrolled member of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, which he’ll tell you is the white name for the American side of Akwesasne. Aaron has judged for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance prizes, the 2019 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, and the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Since 2004, Aaron has been Quartermaster at Books & Books, Miami’s largest independent bookstore. He lives in Miami.

​Mona Susan Power is the author of four books of fiction, including The Grass Dancer (a National Bestseller awarded a PEN/Hemingway Prize), Roofwalker (a collection of stories and essays awarded the Milkweed National Fiction Prize), Sacred Wilderness (a novel which received the Electa Quinney Award), and A Council of Dolls (winner of the Minnesota Book Award and High Plains Book Award, longlisted for the National Book Award and the Carol Shields Prize). She's a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She is also the recipient of several grants in support of her writing which include an Iowa Arts Fellowship, James Michener Fellowship, Radcliffe Bunting Institute Fellowship, Princeton Hodder Fellowship, USA Artists Fellowship, McKnight Fellowship, and Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowship. Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies including The Best American Short Stories series, The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The Missouri Review, Ploughshares, and Granta.