Take This Man (Skyhorse)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1973-74
• Where—Los Angeles (Echo Park), California, USA
• Education—B.A., Stanford University; M.F.A., University of
   California, Irvine
• Awards—PEN/Hemingway Award; Sue Kaufman Prize (American
   Academy of Arts and Letters)
• Currently—lives in Jersey City, New Jersey


Brando Skyhorse grew up in the 1970s and '80s mostly with Vietnamese and Mexican immigrants the Echo Park, section of Los Angeles, California. He channeled those memories into his 2010 novel, The Madonnas of Echo Park.

Skyhorse says he always felt like an outsider in the neighborhood.

I was definitely the nerdy kid with the book bag, with the glasses and the whole thing. I didn't hang out with gangs, or anything. I don't even think I even considered it an option because I wasn't cool enough for that. I wasn't even worthy enough to be hassled by them. I was just totally invisible.

When Skyhorse was three, his father left, and he had a revolving door of stepfathers, never realizing till much older that most of what his mother told him about himself was simply made up, including his name. His mother was so involved in the American Indian movement of the 1970s that she identified herself as Native American even though she was Mexican American.

Corresponding with an American Indian man jailed for armed robbery, she took his last name, Skyhorse, as her own and her son's. She then changed her first name to "Running Deer" and her son's to "Brando" in honor of Marlon Brando's 1970s involvement in Native American activities.

Skyhorse graduated from Stanford University and received his M.F.A. from the writers' program from the University of California at Irvine's writing program. He worked in publishing for ten years as an editor and writer of both fiction and non-fiction.

His first novel, The Madonnas of Echo Park, ws released in 2010. The novel follows the intersections of its characters and cultures in Los Angeles, giving voice to the Echo Park neighborhood with an astonishing—and unforgettable—lyrical power. The book received the 2011 PEN/Hemingway award and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

His second book, Take This Man, a memoir, recounts his childhood years with his mother and her five husbands. It came out in 2014.

Skyhorse currently lives in Jersey City, New Jersey. He has been appointed the 2014 Jenny McKean Moore Writer-In-Washington at George Washington University. (Author bio compiled with information from the publisher and other online sources.)