PEN Center USA withdrew John Smelcer’s Stealing Indians from the shortlist for their 2017 young adult award, after The Stranger and the LA Times reported longstanding disputes to the author’s claim of Native heritage. (The organization did not issue a statement beyond noting the withdrawal of the title on Twitter.) The Stranger first reported on Smelcer’s disputed heritage on August 23, with authors including Sherman Alexie weighing in that Smelcer has been “held in great suspicion and contempt in the Native world for twenty-five years.” The article also questions blurbs given to Smelcer’s books by authors including Saul Bellow, Norman Mailer, […]