Faith Phillips, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, is a novelist, screenwriter, and producer living in the Ozark foothills. After trying her hand at waitressing, tele-marketing, bingo ball pulling, and lawyering, Phillips left active law practice and returned home to author four books and multiple feature screenplays. She created the sub-genre known as Okie Noir, a scion of southern goth and magical realism. Her writing includes fiction, memoir, and true crime, along with a host of essays and rock & roll reviews. Faith’s career is dedicated to telling the true and powerful stories of people who have traditionally been overlooked, with an emphasis on the powerful message of truth-telling and healing.
Phillips launched a full-time writing career beginning with the 2013 supernatural thriller, Ezekiel’s Wheels. Her next book was a collection of essays in the memoir, It’s Not That Hard To. The third release, the true crime novel Now I Lay Me Down is an Oklahoma best-seller, in which the author collaborated with prosecutors and detectives to tell the story of the 2008 Weleetka murders. That book was selected by HULU and Stanley Nelson’s Firelight Films for limited series development through the Kindling Fund initiative.
Phillips put her career on hold for two years to teach Creative Writing to students in Stilwell, Oklahoma – her alma mater and the location known as the End of the Trail of Tears. Her students created an award-winning podcast known as Strawberries in the Death Capital, which addressed misconceptions of Cherokees and their homeland. Faith went on to publish a book called 2020 Visions with her students, based on their experience in the Covid pandemic.
After her time in the classroom came to a close, Phillips created, wrote, and executive produced the national docu-series The Girl Scout Murders, set in the Cherokee Nation.
Her current projects include Missing & Murdered, an unscripted series designed to help solve #MMIW cold cases, and the scripted crime noir thriller, Mankiller Shell. The author lives with her family on the Cherokee reservation, where Okie Noir stories spark her fiery passion for the written word. When she’s not writing screenplays, Phillips travels the national speaking circuit telling stories about teaching, writing, and producing in Indian Country. In addition to writing for the screen, Faith launched the non-profit initiative, Beyond the Trail, where she and fellow activists are building a vibrant arts and cultural district in their community.