Jerry Ellis

Jerry Ellis, of Native American heritage, graduated from the University of Alabama. Born and raised in Fort Payne, Alabama, where Sequoyah once lived when he developed the Cherokee writing system, Ellis was the first person in the modern world to walk the 900 mile route of the Cherokee Trail of Tears, where 4,000 Cherokee died in 1838. Ellis' book about his trek, WALKING THE TRAIL, ONE MAN'S JOURNEY ALONG THE CHEROKEE TRAIL OF TEARS, was published by Delacorte Press and nominated by the publisher for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. The book was endorsed by Dee Brown, author of BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE. WALKING THE TRAIL was included in three anthologies, one by Norton, and it was quoted in Reader's Digest. In 2011, it went on display in the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Ellis has lectured--via storytelling performances-- in Asia, Africa, Europe and USA. On Thanksgiving Day, 2017, he was the keynote speaker at Gutenberg University, in Germany. The author of ten books, he has been published in The New York Times. He has had five plays produced. Ellis lives in both Fort Payne, Alabama and in Rome, Italy. He has traveled to six continents and speaks Spanish and Italian. He is the co-founder of Tanager House, an artist retreat set on 60 wooded acres in the mountains of north Alabama, where he annually holds an all day writing/publishing seminar, and other creative workshops.