This book is the debut of Jon Hickey, a member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Chippewa Indians (Anishinaabe). He earned an MFA from Cornell University and was a Stegner Fellow in fiction at Stanford University. His short stories have appeared in numerous journals such as Virginia Quarterly Review, Gulf Coast, and the Massachusetts Review. He was named the Publishers Weekly Writer to Watch in April of 2025, and Big Chief was named one of the most anticipated novels of 2025 by The Washington Post, Debutiful, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, and LitHub. He currently lives in San Francisco with his wife and two sons.
Big Chief is a book that grapples with problems that grip every human being on both the micro and macro level. What is the importance of blood, both in quantum and in family relations? What does it mean to belong anywhere? What happens when people see power not as a tool but as the only means to feel meaningful and important? This novel knows that no one story can give these questions a decisive, universal answer. Rather, it puts politics and rivalry at the center of the plot, and any answer is left to be derived from the reader, in reaction to how Hickey’s complex and relatable characters respond to the tense situations they put themselves in.