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Native American Authors Project

Louise Erdrich , 1954-

Chippewa

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
Description: An interview with Erdrich from the 1/17/01 issue of Atlantic Unbound.
URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/int2001-01-17.htm
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: http://www.ipl.org/cgi-bin/ref/litcrit/litcrit.out.pl?au=erd-189
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: http://www.gale.com/free_resources/whm/bio/erdrich_l.htm
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: http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/erdrich_louise.html
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: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/erdrich/erdrich.htm
The Salon Interview: Louise Erdrich
Type: authorbio
Description: An interview with Louise Erdrich about her writing and motherhood.
URL: http://www.salon.com/weekly/interview960506.html

Books by Louise Erdrich:

Erdrich, Louise. The Antelope Wife
New York, NY : HarperFlamingo, 1998.
Genre: Fiction
Description: xii, 240 p. ; 25 cm.
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0060187263
Erdrich, Louise. Baptism of desire : poems
New York : Harper & Row, 1989.
Genre: Poetry
Description: 78 p. ; 24 cm.
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0060162139
Erdrich, Louise. The beet queen
New York : Holt, 1986.
Genre: Fiction
Description: 338 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes : Sequel to Love Medicine, the novel. Notes : Written in storyteller and Native American traditions.
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 08050005850030706122
Erdrich, Louise. The bingo palace
New York : Harper Collins Publishers, 1994.
Genre: Fiction
Description: 272 p. ; 24 cm.
North Dakota--Fiction. North DakotaFiction. North Dakota--Man-woman relationships--Fiction.
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0060170808
Erdrich, Louise. The Birchbark House
New York : HyperionBooks for Childre, 1999.
Genre: Fiction
Description: 244 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
Omakayas, a seven-year-old Native American girl of the Ojibwa tribe, lives through the joys of summer and the perils of winter on an island in Lake Superior in 1847.
Audience: Youth
ISBN: 0786803002
Erdrich, Louise. The blue jay's dance : a birth year
New York : Harper Collins Publishers, 1995.
Genre: Autobiography
Description: 223 p. ; 20 cm.
Erdrich, Louise--Family. Motherhood. Mothers and daughters--United States
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0060171324
Dorris, Michael; Erdrich, Louise. Conversations with Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris
Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 1994.
Genre: Nonfiction
Description: 262 p. ; 23 cm.
Edited by Allan Chavkin and Nancy Feyl Chavkin. Series : Literary Conversations series. Indian authors--20th century--Interviews. Erdrich, Louise--Interviews. Dorris, Michael--Interviews.
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 08780565130878056521 (pbk.)
Dorris, Michael; Erdrich, Louise. The crown of columbus
New York, N.Y. : Harper Collins, 1991.
Genre: Fiction
Description: 382 p. ; 25 cm.
Co-authored by Michael Dorris and Louise Erdrich. Summary : Tale of two lovers and their search to find the truth about Columbus.
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0060160799
Erdrich, Louise. Grandmother's pigeon
New York : HyperionBooks for Childre, 1996.
Genre: Fiction
Description: 1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 23 x 29 cm.
Illustrated by Jim LaMarche. Passenger pigeon hatchlings, thought to be extinct, are discovered in Grandmother's room after she departs on a voyage to Greenland.
Audience: Youth
ISBN: 0786801654
Erdrich, Louise. Jacklight
New York : Henry Holt, 1984.
Genre: Poetry
Description: 85 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes : "An owl book." American poetry--20th century. American poetry--Women authors.
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0805010475 (pbk.)
Erdrich, Louise. The last report on the miracles at Little No Horse
New York, NY : HarperCollins, 2001.
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0060187271
Erdrich, Louise. Love medicine
New York : Harper Perennial, 1993.
Genre: Fiction
Description: 367 p. ; 21 cm.
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0553344234 (hc.)0060975547 (pbk.)
Erdrich, Louise; Dorris, Michael. Route 2 (U.S. Highway 2: Description and Travel)
Lord John Press, 1990.
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: All Ages
Erdrich, Louise. Tales of burning love
New York : Harper Collins, 1996.
Genre: Fiction
Description: 441 p.
Summary : Five women stranded together in a blizzard, all former wives of the same man who is now dead, tell why they loved him.
Audience: Adult
Erdrich, Louise. Tracks
New York : Henry Holt, 1988.
Genre: Fiction
Description: 226 p. ; 22 cm. A North Dakota tribe tries to keep their land.
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0805008950

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