D avid grew up with writers. His father, George Lee Walker, a journalist and speechwriter (including feature writer on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Detroit Free Press staff during the 1967 Detroit Riots) retired young to write Chronicles of Doodah (Houghton-Mifflin, 1985), a black satire of corporate life that received numerous national media accolades. His mother, Edith Bessie Walker, taught high school writing and composition for over two decades, wrote poetry, and self-published Miss N: A Novella and Coming of Age Collection of Stories and Sketches in 2004. David’s paternal aunt, Barbara M. Walker, author of The Little House on the Prairie Cookbook (Snowball Publishing, 2019), has been a steadfast supporter of his writing for many years.

While David’s parents often encouraged his writing, he longed instead to be a professional singer-songwriter. This schism was resolved only gradually into a bridge between his song lyricism and dabbling in other forms of writing. But it wasn’t until he was laid up from surgery in 2010 that Tessa first “whispered” in his ear, demanding, “write me!” His first novel, Tessa’s Dance, flowed from there over a period of just a few months. Ret Barlow, by the way, the dedicated but bumbling psychologist narrating Tessa’s Dance, is both avatar for and self-caricature of David whose name combines a distant ancestral Cherokee cousin, Return J. Meigs, Jr. and the Barlow lineage of David’s paternal family’s Missouri Cherokee story.

Tessa’s Dance, and its sequel, Signal Peak, were both self-published, which is why David felt so grateful to gain the support of Doctrine of Discovery producer and scholar Steven Newcomb (Shawnee-Lenape), author of Pagans in the Promised Land and an independent journalist, who positively reviewed both books for Indian Country Today (ICT). Steve’s review combined with ICT’s editorial enthusiasm, and David was soon commissioned for a four-part series on the history of oppressive treatment of Native Americans within the U.S. mental health system, all of which were “excellently and sternly edited” by Bob Roe, according to David. Bob Roe soon moved on to become chief editor of Newsweek, where he was compelled to exert considerable integrity in response to scandal at that publication.

The Medicine Valley novels (Tessa’s Dance and Signal Peak) and the ICT series built a new audience for David’s sociohistorical and cultural critiques. For years, he’d gathered rare sources on the notorious history of the U.S. mental health system in Native America and its troubling descendent policies and practices. He composed a thorough book proposal and “pitched” it for nearly three years. Several publishers expressed enthusiasm, but none made an offer. Then, in 2019, David garnered interest in the project from chief editor Linda Bathgate at Washington State University Press. From there, three years passed as numerous Native community voices expressed support, followed by manuscript drafts, peer review, editing, fact-checking, and final approval from the WSU Press editorial board. All told, David’s newest book, Coyote’s Swing: A Memoir and Critique of Mental Hygiene in Native America (WSU Press, 2023), took seven years of hard work from start to publication, although some chapters were drafted as early as 2002.

ISEPP Lifetime Achievement Award 2023

“His most recent work, Coyote’s Swing: A Memoir & Critique of Mental Hygiene in Native America is the only comprehensive history and critique of the U.S. mental health system in Indian Country. It is a courageous expose of the violations within the system and his ongoing attempts to provide real help despite opposition.”

~ Citation – International Society for Ethical Psychology & Psychiatry

University Press Week Selection

Coyote’s Swing: A Memoir & Critique of Mental Hygiene in Native America, one of 24 books from 103 submissions “chosen because they exemplify the Speak UP theme for this year’s University Press Week. We hope they will inform and shape conversations around the world.”

Jane Bunker, president, Association of University Presses

Download David’s Curriculum Vitae