Real People

“Real People” is a series of novels by Robert J. Conley the American author best known for his works based on the history, tradition, folk lore, and experience of the Cherokee Nation. The first novel of the “Real People” series was “The Way of the Priests” that Conley first published in 1992. Robert was born in Cushing Oklahoma in 1940, where he lived for most of his childhood. A proud Cherokee, he was a lifelong member of the federally recognized tribe of Native Americans called the “Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians”. Conley is known for his accurate portrayal of historical Cherokee personalities during the years before contact with Wild West pioneers. With the publication of the first novel of the Real People series, he became a critically acclaimed author and a household name among Western historical fiction authors. For his novels, he has won several awards including the Best Western Novel at the 1995 Spur Awards, and two Spur Awards in 1992 for “Nickajack” the novel and “Yellow Bird” the short story that won it in 1988. In 2010, Robert J Conley made history as he was elected the chair of the Western Writers of America, the first American Indian to ever head the group at Western Carolina University. Conley died in 2014.