Native American Authors

Louise Erdrich was born in 1954, in Little Falls, Minnesota and grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota where her parents worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She received an M.A. degree from the John Hopkins University in 1979. Erdrich's fiction and poetry, draws on her Chippewa heritage to examine complex familial and sexual relationships among full and mixed blood Native Americans as they struggle with questions of identity in white European American culture. She is a novelist, poet, short story writer, essayist and a critic.

Awards and Honors

Best First Fiction Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts & Letters
John Simon Guggenheim Award, 1985.
Wordcraft Circle Writer of the Year (Prose - Children's Literature) award, 2000 (for The Birchbark House.

(Photo courtesy of Facts on File, American Historical Images on File: The Native American Experience )

Online resources by or about Louise Erdrich:

An Emissary of the Between-World
Author: Katie Bacon
Type: etext

IPL Online Literary Criticism: Louise Erdrich
Author: Internet Public Library
Type: authorbio
Description: Collection of links to biographical and critical sites about Erdrich and her works.
URL:

Louis Erdrich
Author: Gale Group, Inc.
Type: authorbio
Description: This extensive biography of Erdrich comes from the Gale Group's Celebrating Women's History Month web site. The content was originally part of the publisher's Contemporary Authors New Revision Series.
URL:

Louise Erdrich
Author: Amy Leigh McNally and Piyali Nath Dalal
Type: authorbio
Description: This page is part of a series from Voices from the Gaps: Women Writers of Color produced by the Department of English and Programs in American Studies at the University of Minnesota. Included is an in-depth biography, selected bibliography and related links.
URL:

Modern American Poetry: Louise Erdrich
Author: Cary Nelson
Type: authorbio
Description: Site is divided into sections such as: About Louise Erdrich, About Erdrich's Poetry, Excerpts from Interviews, Bibliography, and External Links.

URL:

The Salon Interview: Louise Erdrich
Type: authorbio
Description: An interview with Louise Erdrich about her writing and motherhood.
URL:

Books by Louise Erdrich:

New York, NY : HarperFlamingo, 1998.
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
ISBN:

New York : Harper & Row, 1989.
Genre: Poetry
Audience: Adult
ISBN:

New York : Holt, 1986.
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
ISBN:

New York : Harper Collins Publishers, 1994.
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
ISBN:

New York : HyperionBooks for Childre, 1999.
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Youth
ISBN:

New York : Harper Collins Publishers, 1995.
Genre: Autobiography
Audience: Adult
ISBN:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 1994.
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: Adult
ISBN: (pbk.)

New York, N.Y. : Harper Collins, 1991.
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
ISBN:

New York : HyperionBooks for Childre, 1996.
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Youth
ISBN:

New York : Henry Holt, 1984.
Genre: Poetry
Audience: Adult
ISBN: (pbk.)

New York, NY : HarperCollins, 2001.
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
ISBN:

New York : Harper Perennial, 1993.
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
ISBN: (hc.) (pbk.)

Erdrich, Louise; Dorris, Michael. Route 2 (U.S. Highway 2: Description and Travel)