Gordon Lee Johnson

Gordon Lee Johnson, Cahuilla/Cupeño, lives and writes on the Pala Indian Reservation. A former newspaperman, he was last a columnist and feature writer for the <i>Press-Enterprise</i>, covering Southern California's Inland Empire. Prior to journalism, he studied literature and philosophy at the Universities of California at Santa Cruz, San Diego, and Berkeley. He graduated with a degree in creative writing from Vermont College and went on to earn a master of fine arts from Antioch University, where he concentrated on Native fiction. He is currently enrolled in the Institute of American Indian Arts’ MFA screenwriting program. Johnson has a book of newspaper columns called <i>Rez Dogs Eat Beans</i> that was translated and published in the Czech Republic. In 2007, Heyday published another compilation of his newspaper columns titled <i>Fast Cars and Frybread</i>. He is the former Indigenous Writer in Residence for the School of Advanced Research in Santa Fe. He has four children, eleven grandchildren, and a feral tabby cat named Trouble who growls from the back porch when hungry.