Creating Crowheart Butte
Western Wyoming Community College (Western) will be hosting Zach Kennah, author of the graphic novel Crowheart Butte. Kennah will be presenting on the process of creating the novel and his experience on writing and illustrating the work. The presentation will take place on Thursday, November 3, at noon and 7pm in room 1302.
Kennah formerly lived in Green River, Wyoming and attended the University of Wyoming for art school. In 2021 his first graphic novel, Crowheart Butte, was published. A two-year process, Kennah took inspiration from his father’s stories in writing and illustrating the novel. In addition to his presentation Thursday evening Kennah will also be visiting a Western English class and an art class to speak to students.
Crowheart Butte is a part of the horror/fantasy genre. The novel focuses on a middle school boys' basketball team in the small town of Fort Washakie, Wyoming, located on the Wind River Indian Reservation. As they navigate their way through contemporary native life and prepare for their upcoming game, sophisticated, yet brutal, creatures of Shoshone legend called the Nimerigar are secretly devising their own sinister plan. Crowheart Butte tells of the issues and struggles that indigenous people face on United States reservations while providing a riveting escape-horror story not seen in popular culture.
“Zach Kennah is a dual threat,” says Chris Propst, Professor of English at Western. “He is both an artist and a writer which is a rare thing. We are really excited to have someone who can speak about creating an art form that is really trending, the graphic novel. It’s not just for kids anymore, and they’ve gotten way more literary and more interesting than your traditional super-hero fare. Not only will his talk be really fascinating in hearing about how he was able to blend his two talents into one piece of art based on Wyoming culture, but we look forward to his visits to both an art class and a creative writing class and sharing his experience with students.”
The event is sponsored by the Arlene and Louise Wesswick Foundation and Western’s English Department. For more information about the event contact Professor of English, Chris Propst at cpropst@westernwyoming.edu or call 307-382-1732. To see all of Western’s events visit: westernwyoming.edu/calendar.