Chag Lowry, Author

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Tribal Education Agency (TEA)

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Alison Robbins

Executive Director

(707) 668.5101 | EXT. 1057

arobbins@bluelakerancheria-nsn.gov

Chag Lowry, M.Ed is of Yurok, Maidu, and Pit River ancestry from northern California. He authored the award-winning World War One graphic novel Soldiers Unknown, published by the Great Oak Press that is owned by the Pechanga Tribe. This book conveys the American World War One story through the experiences of three Yurok soldiers. Soldiers Unknown is endorsed by the World War One Centennial Commission, the Yurok Tribe, and the American Indian Veterans Association of Southern California, and is an American Indian Library Association 2022 Honor Book.

Chag owns a small publishing imprint called Original Voices and is the publisher and writer of the comic book stories Where the Water Flows Strong (art by Weshoyot Alvitre), Reflections (art by Eli Hyder), Follow the Water (art by Rahsan Ekedal), My Sisters (co-written and art by Weshoyot Alvitre), and Embers (art by Teddy Tso, Jackie Fawn, Xatimniim Drake & Weshoyot Alvitre). The My Sisters comic is endorsed by the California Indian Basketweavers’ Association (CIBA). Chag’s imprint also published the books The Original Patriots: Northern California Native American Veterans of World War Two, and The Original Patriots: California Native American Veterans of the Korean War. He is the co-producer and co-director of the KEET-TV PBS World War Two documentary titled The Original Patriots that can be viewed at Original Patriots: Northern California Indian Veterans of World War II | PBS.

Chag is currently the Executive Director of the Indigenous Futures Institute (IFI) at UC San Diego. He directs symposiums that uplift Native scholars and cultural leaders, develops Native-based community initiatives, and raises funding from foundations and other partners to further the IFI mission. As part of his work, he directed the first-ever California Indigenous Comic-Con in San Diego in 2025.

Follow the Water

Chag and artist Rahsan Ekedal created Follow the Water, a 14-page comic story set in San Francisco in 1914. This comic introduces the character named Isaac as he meets with the Indigenous man named Ishi. The tale visualizes part of Ishi’s story as told from a Native perspective. Curriculum developed by Rebecca Haff-Lowry, ASW, MSW

My Sisters

Chag and Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva) co-wrote the new comic story titled My Sisters. It is a 16-page full color story that honors the special relationship that Indigenous basket weavers have with their ancestral homelands in California. Weshoyot created the art and the cover and the comic is endorsed by the California Basketweavers’ Association (CIBA). The My Sisters curriculum was created by Rebecca Haff-Lowry.

Soldiers Unknown

The graphic novel Soldiers Unknown is a historically accurate World War One story told from the perspective of Native Yurok soldiers. The novel is based on extensive military research and on oral interviews of family members of Yurok WW1 veterans from throughout Humboldt and Del Norte counties. The author Chag Lowry is of Yurok, Maidu, and Achumawi ancestry, and the illustrator Rahsan Ekedal was raised in southern Humboldt. Soldiers Unknown takes place during the battle of the Meuse-Argonne in France in 1918, which is the largest battle in American Army history. The book was peer-reviewed and endorsed by the World War One Centennial Commission, which is a group of academics and retired U.S. military veterans who were appointed by President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. Soldiers Unknown gained this prestigious honor for historical accuracy and for its unique, compelling format in the telling of World War One history. Curriculum created by Rebecca Haff-Lowry. The North Coast Journal published an article about Soldiers Unknown. You can read the article at the link below. Purchase Soldiers Unknown

The honorable American Indian Veterans Association of Southern California voted to endorse Soldiers Unknown due to the book’s authentic and respectful portrayal of the American veteran experience in World War One. This group of Native veterans meet monthly at the Indian Health Clinic on the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indian’s homelands. Chag met with them in 2018 for this endorsement.

The Original Patriots

Chag co-produced and co-directed this KEET-TV PBS documentary that featured interviews he conducted with his friends, World War Two veterans Frank Richards (Tolowa), Lee Hover (Karuk), and Wally Scott (Yurok). Created in 2007, this local PBS documentary was funded as part of a regional PBS project based on the national Ken Burns WW2 series titled The War. This documentary is the only one in the country to feature all Native American World War Two veterans. Chag initially interviewed his friends for his WW2 book and then worked with them to them be interviewed on film for this project.

The Original Patriots: California Native Veterans of the Korean War, written by Chag Lowry, is 120 pages with interviews of Yurok, Bear River, Maidu, and Pit River veterans, with color and black and white photographs. The book also includes a summary of Native American participation in World War One and World War Two and a history of the Indian boarding school system that most of these veterans went through as young people. Curriculum created by Rebecca Haff-Lowry.

Living Biographies

Author Chag Lowry also co-produced and co-directed KEET-TV documentary series: Indigenous Living Biographies and PBS documentary Original Patriots

INKS: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society

Chag wrote an article with photos sharing about his comic publishing journey for this academic journal.

Chag and his friend Johnny Bear Contreras have presented about Native comics and sequential art at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) for the past several years. Johnny is a member of the San Pasqual Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and is an accomplished public artist and sculptor. He has worked for years to uplift other Native artists and writers and get them involved at the SDCC.

2025 San Diego Comic-Con: From left, facilitator Johnny Bear Contreras, Dr. Theresa Ambo, Mona Rodriguez, Weshoyot Alvitre, Dr. Kelly Stewart. Photo by Chag.

The group shared how Native people have used sequential art in basketry, regalia, and traditional architecture to tell stories and convey who we are and why we are here. The sisters Theresa, Mona, and Kelly are all talented basket weavers; this was likely the first time in SDCC history that Native basket weavers presented at the con. The panel was titled “Indigenous Comics & Basket Weaving: Centuries of Stories.