Michelle Cronin is a Native American author from the Onondaga Nation. She writes picture books, middle grade novels, and young adult fiction.
Michelle was born and raised at Onondaga. She attended the Onondaga Nation School from grades K-5 and nearby La Fayette Junior/Senior High School for grades 6-12. In 1986, she attended Cornell University, where she was a member of the Big Red Women’s Ice Hockey team. Due to a series of security incidents, she withdrew from Cornell during her freshman year, later enrolling at Le Moyne College where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Communications. She is a former manager and banker who spent fifteen years working for the Onondaga Nation and eleven years in the banking industry in Las Vegas, NV and Syracuse, NY.
An avid reader, she discovered at a very young age that there was a distinct lack of Native American voices in literature. This discovery, coupled with her lifelong love of writing, led to a conviction that she would one day become an author. There was no such thing as the #OWNVOICES movement when she was young, but she knew then that her focus would be to create contemporary stories that allow Native people, especially children, to see themselves authentically represented by one of their own.
The term “seventh generation” is one that Onondaga children learn at an early age. It refers to the responsibility we all share that everything we do must be done in consideration of the seventh generation to come. This principle is what guides Michelle’s writing. “I want our seventh generation to find a world that celebrates our similarities and our differences,” she says. “The only way this will happen is if we understand each other. I write so that my people, the Onondaga, are seen, heard, and understood. I also write to express our common human experience, our universal truths.”
When she’s not writing, Michelle is either traveling, enjoying time with family and friends, or listening to live music. Traveling is her favorite pastime. “I love to meet people from various backgrounds and cultures,” she says. “It’s taught me that we have a lot more in common than we have differences.” Michelle currently resides at the Onondaga Nation with her partner of 35 years, musician Dugan Henhawk. Follow Michelle on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @mcroninwrites.