Larry D. Keown is the author of “Working In Indian Country: Building Successful Business Relationships with American Indian Tribes,” 2012 EVVY™ Award for Political/Social, 1st place and Business/Career, 2nd place. You can contact Larry at [email protected] or visit his web site at www.workinginindiancountry.com.

Larry is a retired federal official and currently an author, consultant and educator on tribal relations.  As a federal official he was instrumental in collaborating and consulting with numerous American Indian tribes on the development of a Historical Preservation Plan for the nationally renowned Medicine Wheel sacred site in Wyoming and provided advice to other agencies on management of sacred sites around the country.  Larry has counseled and taught numerous government agencies and corporate entities the process of building successful relationships with American Indian tribes and has trained thousands of government and corporate leaders at his tribal relations seminars throughout the country.  After ten years of collecting vital information on tribal relations he completed his recent book “Working in Indian Country: Building Successful Business Relationships with American Indian Tribes.”

Tell us about your book and how it came into being.

After teaching workshops to thousands of government and corporate officials, I felt that the information needed to be documented in a reference book that is widely available.  I worked on the book for about seven years.  In the end it became a collaborative effort between myself (author), editor and publisher Patricia Ross (Hugo House and Mile High Editing), artist Eugene Ridgely (Cover Artist), book designer Rhonda Taylor (Taylor by Design), Gerard Baker (Mandan- Hidatsa) who wrote the Foreword, and my wife Carol who spend endless hours reviewing and editing the final manuscripts.  Being new to the writing world I couldn’t have done it without all of their support and assistance.

Why did you decide to independently publish your book?

I retained Patricia Ross as an editor and she led me down the path to independent publishing.

How has CIPA helped you with that process?  

I value the blogs and articles that are offered on their web site.  Being in northern Wyoming I am not able to participate in their events but read the Signature Newsletter regularly.

What’s next for you?

Becoming an author was a whole new experience and now the marketing role is another steep learning curve.  The book has been a real boost for my workshops as I’m getting numerous invitations to present at conferences around the country.  I’ll continue to offer workshops with “Working In Indian Country” as a textbook – it’s a great match.

Where can people buy your book? 

Available at www.workinginindiancountry.com

Also, through Amazon.com but I have a glitch with them I’m trying to work out (they keep showing it out of stock).

Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

I’m amazed at the broad interest in this book.  I expected it to be valuable in the government sector but find it selling very well in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors.  Another bonus is that a number of universities in the United States and Canada are using “Working In Indian Country” as a textbook for various Indian study classes.