About Me

Chaouie (pronounced sha-wee)

I am Chaouie. I am a writer, publisher, musician, and artist. I am a non-binary descendant of Choctaw ancestors from Mississippi.

I am a staunch supporter of creativity and innovation. A lifelong geek who grew up on cheesy horror movies, Stephen King novels and bright adventurous comic books. I love science and art, cooking and listening to Delta blues and punk and hip hop on vinyl. A proud bohemian nerd who wears their dorky heart on their sleeve.

I have spent pretty much my entire life either in very low middle class or poverty. I have seen the worst parts of society, as well as the best, from a front row seat of struggle and worry. I was born in Ferriday, Louisiana, in 1979 to working class conservative parents, who raised me throughout Louisiana and Mississippi as they worked to find their footing in the economically challenged South of the 1980s and early 90s.

I grew up with an overwhelming interest in the arts. Drawing, painting, writing, and playing music have long been more than mere hobbies to me. They are vital to my very well being. My personal moral compass was built by a combination of lessons learned from my parents, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and X-Men comic books, and these lessons inform my humanitarian beliefs to this day. After the turn of the century, in my early adulthood, I began taking my creativity more seriously. I played in various bands, and began writing fiction more. Under the pseudonym Chuck Morgue I have written and released novels (through my own independent publishing imprint Nautilhaus) inspired by the horror films and books I enjoyed so much as a kid. I now work under the name Chaouie, a Choctaw word meaning raccoon, first bestowed upon me by an aunt when I was just a kid, digging through kitchen cabinets hunting for snacks.

I am a sexual trauma survivor. I struggle with depression and social anxiety. Art has always been cathartic for me.

Whether I am writing novels or short stories, composing songs, or making a big mess with paint on canvas, I am putting my heart out there. Sometimes the end result is discomforting. Sometimes it is exhausting. And sometimes, it makes me proud.

I hope you find something to enjoy in what I have to offer the world. Or perhaps something to despise. Or to pity. As long as you have a real reaction to what I create, then my art has served its purpose.

In solidarity,

Chaouie