Louise Erdrich
(b. 1954)

When Louise Erdrich was a child, her father gave her a nickel for every story she wrote. The childhood stories helped her to become the award-winning author she is today. Erdrich's novels explore themes of Native American culture, identity, and endurance in the 20th century. She is known for her moving portrayals of the life of the Ojibwa, also called Chippewa (both are pronounced CHIP´ way). The Chippewa, one of the largest existing Native American tribes, are Algonkian-speaking people who formerly lived in the northern regions of the United States and into Canada.

Erdrich grew up near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in Minnesota, where her grandfather was the tribal chairman of the Chippewa. She entered Dartmouth University in 1972, the first year the college admitted women. It was also the first year a Native American Studies department was established at the university. She published her first volume of poetry, Jacklight, in 1984. During that same year, she also published her first novel, Love Medicine. The novel explores the faith and the family bonds that preserve the Chippewa community. Extremely well received, Love Medicine won many awards, including the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award.

Her early novels garnered mass-media attention to the life and literature of American Indians and led the way for other multicultural writers to tell their own stories.

Erdrich is also the author The Beet Queen, Tracks, The Bingo Palace, and Tales of Burning Love.

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