David Charpentier is the author of the non-fiction book The Boy Who Promised Me Horses. He has worked in Indian education his entire professional career, which began in 1990 when he travelled (fresh out of college in Minnesota) to Ashland, Montana to teach high school English at St. Labre Indian School on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. After ten years in the classroom, he established St. Labre’s College Mentoring Program, with the goal of helping more St. Labre alumni attend and graduate from college. In 2003, he founded the non-profit Bridge Foundation, which provides cultural, leadership, and educational programs for Native American Youth in southeastern Montana. He is currently the co-president of the Bridge Foundation and is partnering on projects with young tribal leaders on both the Northern Cheyenne and Crow Reservations. He has presented at state, regional, and national education conferences, most recently at the Native American Student Advocacy Institute (NASAI) on “Creating a College-Going Culture.” He is a published poet, appearing notably in Spillway and Poems Across the Big Sky. He has published stories and essays in the Montana Quarterly, The Montana Sporting Journal, and Yellowstone Valley Women. His short story “The Note” was a finalist for Whitefish Review 2023 Fiction Prize. In his free time, David runs ultra-trail races, rides mountain bikes, and plays hockey. He collects records and plays them on retro stereo equipment in his garage. He has two children, Sarah and Henry. He lives with his wife Mandy in Billings, Montana.