An exciting chapter from Wigan's Santos Cafe to Sante Fe

A chance conversation in a Wigan cafe produced a book on Native Americans!
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What started out as a personal project for Steve Almond many years ago, was later reignited over coffee at Santos Cafe with local singer-songwriter Mike Gannon and led to the production of My Visions - a book of short stories, poems and photographs about life on an Indian reservation in the Western States.

Steve worked for years in the print trade with Haydn Ferguson, whose wife Margaret is of Native American descent.

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She was unaware until later in life that she had siblings in the USA and that her brother had spent years searching for her, only knowing that she was “somewhere in

Steve Almond, centre, pictured with musician Mike Gannon, left, who has made music to go with the book, and Haydn FergusonSteve Almond, centre, pictured with musician Mike Gannon, left, who has made music to go with the book, and Haydn Ferguson
Steve Almond, centre, pictured with musician Mike Gannon, left, who has made music to go with the book, and Haydn Ferguson

England”.

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Haydn’s brother-in-law known as T’cha Mi’iko had previously written a book and the wheels were set in motion to combine the two books together.

The book also includes a CD from Mike. He has an avid interest in the native culture and had written and recorded an original song “This is so”, a couple of years earlier, which is a moving and haunting tribute to the Native Americans.

He gave Steve a copy of the song who liked it so much, it rekindled his interest in the book project and it was decided to include Mike’s song on CD as part of a package.

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Steve said: “I was talking about the subject with Mike one day and he didn’t know anything about it so I told him Mko’s story.

“He told me about this song he’d written and gave me a copy to take home but I had no idea what to expect.

“It turned out to be a really nice song and this is where the package was born”

Haydyn said: “My brother-in-law mentioned that he wanted to do a new book a couple of months ago, so I mentioned it to Steve and we decided to combine the best part of the books together.

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“The three of us would be sitting on a video call at two o’clock in the morning putting it all together to create this excellent end product.”

The author of the book is T’cha Mi’iko, who was born on the Fort Hall Military Post Indian reservation in Idaho. He is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes and currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he is a mature student at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA).

Now in his 70s, he has served as a firefighter, freelance photographer and teacher to disabled children.

Being an adopted child and colour blind helped him to see the world differently,

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T’cha Mi’iko was actually born Levi Roy Cosgrove and was placed up for adoption at two years old alongside his four brothers and one sister in the 1980s.

He was later adopted by the Price family who changed his name to Michael Price.

Haydn added: “For years he wondered where his siblings were and when he got old enough he went looking for them.

“He knew he had brothers and sisters and a half-brother in America and was later told he had a half-sister in England.

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“One day one of the girls he was adopted with posted online saying: ‘We are looking for our sister, we know she’s from England and we know her parents’ names.’

“Then one of Margaret’s cousins searched his name and realised the relation and put them in touch.”

He got the name while he was teaching Indian children to speak English but one boy couldn’t say his name and all he could say was T’cha Mi’iko.

A total of 30 copies of the book have been sent over to the IAIA shop and museum in Santa Fe and Steve is currently in talks to get the book into retailers in the UK.

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Steve added: “I am dealing with Nielsen books and through a wholesaler we aim to get the book into Waterstones and hopefully other bookshops.”

In the meantime if anyone would wish to purchase a copy of the book they can contact Steve via his email: [email protected].

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