Glenn Schiffman

Raised in a border town of the Cattauraugus Seneca Indian Reservation where his father was chaplain at the Indian school, Glenn Schiffman has lived around American Indians all of his life. He has Vision-Fasted 12 times, sat in on numerous traditional healing ceremonies, has been a fire keeper at 15 Sun Dances and danced in 8 others. Since 2010 he's been a Pipe-Keeper of a traditional Sun Dance on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Glenn currently lives in Flathead Valley, Montana, where he enjoys spending time with his twin grandsons. He leads workshops for local writers groups and will be teaching a continuing education course on "Writing Autobiographical Fiction" in April-May 2022 at Flathead Valley Community College.

Glenn has built more than 100 sweat lodges in all regions of the US and personally conducted over 1000 Inipi (sweat lodge) ceremonies. He has been interviewed by print and TV news organizations inc. CNN, and appeared in two TV docu-dramas about Native American lore. In addition, he served as the Go-Between on a documentary of a dance by Arapaho to celebrate the 1994 release of wolves into Yellowstone National Park.

Glenn has published several works of creative fiction (including THE WAY I WAS TAUGHT) and a DVD on the Thanksgiving Prayer of the Iroquois Peoples. THE WAY I WAS TAUGHT was chosen as an Eric Hoffer Book Award 2014 Finalist.

He has recently written and published several Kindle Vella books, including the short story anthology VANISHING POINTS and the non-fiction essays called RELATIONSHIP WITH FIRE: Experiential Teachings About Ceremony and Prayer.

Glenn also created a series of Coloring Storybooks (via ColoringJournalsforHealthyLiving.com) in which he retells Native North and South American myths and teaching stories with coloring-page illustrations. The series includes SEASONS AROUND THE MEDICINE WHEEL and SEASONS AROUND THE MEDICINE WHEEL: SPRING, available in print at Amazon.com.

He has also written about "Places of Emergence" and collaborated on a blog and video series about "what does it mean to be a Human Being." In 1990, Glenn produced a CD and laser disc educational publication for IBM's Eduquest Group based on the book "Black Elk Speaks" and was a writer on the Eduquest publication of The Declaration of Independence. He has also written historical essays and literary reviews for Salem Press, the McGill Annual Literary Review, and the Newbury Library.

Glenn was a co-founder of Western Gate Roots and Wings Foundation, a non-profit which counsels youth, uninitiated adult men and returning veterans in collaboration with Native Elders and counselors at Home Boys Industries. His academic degrees include a BA in History from Knox College, an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State, and a Masters in Spiritual Counseling from the University of Santa Monica.