John Christian Hopkins

John Christian Hopkins (born 1960) is a Narragansett journalist, author, poet and public speaker who resides in Tuba City, Arizona, United States. After having grown up in Hope Valley, Rhode Island, Hopkins graduated from the University of Rhode Island[1] with degrees in journalism and history in 1987.

Hopkins is a career journalist who has worked at newspapers across New England, in New York, Florida, most recently in Arizona. He was a former nationally syndicated newspaper columnist for Gannett News Service. As a child Hopkins slept clutching books to his chest and dreamed of becoming an author. “I’ve never wanted to do anything else but write,” Hopkins said. He and his wife Sararesa live on her Navajo reservation in Fort Defiance, Arizona. [2]

Journalism

Hopkins spent time as a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist for the Gannett News Service, and has also written for USA Today, The News-Press, The Pequot Times, The Westerly Sun, Indian Country Today Media Network, News from Indian Country and Native Peoples magazine.[3] His work has received recognition from the Gannett Awards and the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) Awards. In 2003, he became the first member of the NAJA[4] to receive awards in four different writing categories during the same year (news, features, sports and columns).[5] Hopkins is one of very few Narragansett writers, and one of very few opinion columnists from any tribe at the time his career began, as noted in Sage's Encyclopedia of Journalism [6] (p. 320). Since 2015 he has been covering Navajo culture and politics for the Lake Powell Life News.[7]

Publications

Hopkins has published five books: Carlomagno in 2003,[8] Nacogdoches in 2004,[9] The Pirate Prince Carlomagno in 2011,[10] Twilight of the Gods in 2011,[11] Rhyme or Reason: Narragansett Poetry in 2012,[12] "Two Guns" in 2014,[13] "Writer on the Storm: a collection of columns" in 2014, and [14] "Loki: God of Mischief" in 2014.[15]

While Hopkins has been in the journalism business for twenty-plus years, he also delved into writing novels over the last decade. His first book, Carlomagno, is based on King Philip's War, fictionally elaborating on the story of King Philip's captured son, whom he names "Carlomagno." Hopkins's long love of westerns is apparent in Nacogdoches, which follows “The Rango Kid,” as he impersonates a sheriff and finds himself forced to stand up to a criminal. The Prince of Carlomagno continues to tell a story of a young Native American's struggles to elude slavery. In Twilight of the Gods, Hopkins explores the science fiction genre by writing about the supernatural coming to life, based on the Mayan calendar's predictions. He then wrote Rhyme or Reason: Narragansett Poetry, which touches on Narragansett tribal history. Most recently in 2014, Hopkins published three books: "Two Guns", a new western fiction; "Writer on the Storm: a collection of columns", a collection of observations concerning images in popular culture; and "Loki: God of Mischief", a mythological thriller about Loki, the Norse god of mischief.

In 1999, Hopkins published a tribute in The Westerly Sun to his grand uncle, the famous runner Ellison Brown. The tribute is excerpted in Michael Ward's 2006 book, Ellison Tarzan Brown: The Narragansett Indian Who Twice Won the Boston Marathon.[16]

References
  1. Donaldson, Shane. "John Christian Hopkins '87". University of Rhode Island. Archived from the original on 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
  2. "Pressbooks". pressbooks. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
  3. Hopkins, John Christian (2009-06-30). "Guest column: News welcomes new reporter, John Hopkins". Williams News. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-04-05.
  4. "Native American Journalists Association". Native American Journalists Association. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
  5. "Native American Authors". Internet Public Library. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
  6. Sterling, Christopher (2009). Encyclopedia of Journalism. SAGE Publications. p. 320. ISBN 9780761929574.
  7. Hopkins, John Christian. "Meaningful Fog".
  8. Hopkins, John Christian (2003). Carlomagno. New York: IUniverse. ISBN 9780595298976.
  9. Hopkins, John Christian (2004). Nacogdoches. PublishAmerica. ISBN 9781413720945.
  10. Hopkins, John Christian (2011). The Pirate Prince Carlomagno. Franklin Park, NJ: Wampum Books. ISBN 9780984201235.
  11. Hopkins, John Christian (2011). Twilight of the Gods. Greenfield, MA: Blue Hand Books. ISBN 9781467902229.
  12. Hopkins, John Christian (2012). Rhyme of Reason: Narragansett Poetry. Greenfield, MA: Blue Hand Books. ISBN 9781477541494.
  13. Hopkins, John Christian (2014). Two Guns. Greenfield, MA: Blue Hand Books. ISBN 9781502737366.
  14. Hopkins, John Christian (2014). Writer on the Storm: a collection of columns. Greenfield, MA: Blue Hand Books. ISBN 9781496144621.
  15. Hopkins, John Christian (2014). Loki: God of Mischief. Greenfield, MA: Blue Hand Books. ISBN 9781492913658.
  16. Ward, Michael (2006). Ellison Tarzan Brown: The Narragansett Indian Who Twice Won the Boston Marathon. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786424160.

Further reading
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