Navarre Scott Momaday was born on February 27, 1934 in Lawton, Okla. to Kiowa parents who successfully bridged the gap between Native American and white ways, but remained true to their heritage. Momaday attended the University of New Mexico and earned an M.A and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1963. A member of the Gourd Dance Society of the Kiowa Tribe, Momaday has received a plethora of writing accolades, including the Academy of American Poets prize for The Bear and the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for House Made of Dawn. He also shared the Western Heritage Award with David Muench in 1974 for the nonfiction book Colorado: Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring, and he is the author of the film adaptation of Frank Water's novel, The Man Who Killed the Deer. His work, The Names is composed of tribal tales, boyhood memories, and family histories. Another book, The Way to Rainy Mountain, melds myth, history, and personal recollection into a Kiowa tribe narrative. Throughout his writings, Momaday celebrate his Kiowa Native American heritage in structure, theme, and subject matter, often dealing with the man-nature relationship as a central theme and sustaining the Indian oral tradition.

(Bowker Author Biography) N. Scott Momaday is Professor of English, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

In this enchanting book, Scott Momaday retells myths of his people and describes the Indian way of life he knew as a child. In two dozen passages, he tells of how his people entered the world through a hollow log, shares stories of great events and heroes, and recalls fantastic creatures like a buffalo with horns of steel. Supplementing these stories with factual notations and personal reminiscences, Momaday has created more than a collection of folklore. The Way to Rainy Mountain is a treasury of images that preserves the Kiowa way of life.