Loading AI tools
Cherokee-American author From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Traci Sorell is an American author of fiction and nonfiction works for teens and an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation.
Sorell has spent her life with her family living on the Cherokee Nation tribe's reservation in northeastern Oklahoma by Fort Gibson Lake.[1] Her mother's family has lived in the area since 1838 when Cherokee people were removed from their homelands.[2] She has a younger brother and sister.[2]
As a child, Sorell learned about her ancestors from her grandmother, fishing, and caring for animals and the land.[2] She also enjoyed reading, singing, and performing in theater productions.[2]
When Sorell was a teenager, she and her family moved to Southern California, and she became the first person in her family to graduate from college.[3] Her mother, sister, and brother later received degrees, as well.[2]
Sorell's second language is Spanish, though she is trying to learn the Cherokee language.[2]
Sorell majored in Native American Studies and minored in Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley graduating with a Bachelor Arts in 1994.[1] During her time at Berkeley, Sorell lived in Madrid and taught English and Spanish to children and adults.[2]
In 1996, she received a Master of Arts from the University of Arizona, where she studied American Indian Studies with a concentration in Federal Indian Law & Policy.[1]
Later, Sorell returned to school and received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2001.[1]
Sorell began her career by helping Native Nations and their citizens by writing "legal codes, testimony for Congressional hearings, federal budget requests, grants and reports."[2]
Since beginning her writing career, Sorell has continued to focus on incorporating culturally accurate books about Cherokee and other Indigenous people for children and young adults.[2]
Sorell is currently a Tulsa Artist Fellow.[1]
Four of Sorell's books are Junior Library Guild selections: Powwow Day,[4] We Are Still Here!,[5] We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga,[6] and Classified.[7]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.