Louise Erdrich

Writer from the United States · United States · On the map · Writers · Born 1954 · age 72

Karen Louise Erdrich is an American author of novels, short stories, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, a federally recognized Ojibwe people.

Louise Erdrich is read about 458 times a day, in 33 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

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A life in dates

2023Prix Femina étrangerAward2021Pulitzer Prize for FictionAward2020“These treaties had been made since the beginning of our country on a nation-to-nation basis with every tribe.”In their wordswith NPR (2020)Read the whole statement

“I'm a very mixed person. And yet, being a citizen of a nation within our nation gives one a certain sense of - it changes your life.”In their wordswith NPR (2020)Read the whole statement

“I've been asked by people, well, why wasn't that great? Why didn't people just want to move away from their reservation and become like everybody else?”In their wordswith NPR (2020)Read the whole statement

“If you should ever doubt that a series of dry words in a government document can shatter spirits and demolish lives, let this book (The Night Watchman) erase that doubt.”In their wordswith NPR (2020)Read the whole statement

2017Owen Wister AwardAward2016“Sorrow eats time. Be patient. Time eats sorrow.”In their wordsLaRose (2016)Read the whole statement

“(What moves you most in a work of literature?) Reading about an ordinary person who behaves with integrity in a terrifying situation. (2016)”In their wordsRead the whole statement

National Book Critics Circle Award for FictionAward2015Library of Congress Prize for American FictionAward2013American Book AwardsAward2012National Book Award for FictionAward2009Anisfield-Wolf Book AwardsAward2000WILLA Literary AwardAward1999World Fantasy Award for Best NovelAward1987O. Henry AwardAward1985Guggenheim FellowshipAwardSue Kaufman Prize for First FictionAward1984National Book Critics Circle Award for FictionAward1954Born7 June 1954

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Louise Erdrich

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Former spouse Michael Dorris

Sibling Angie Erdrich

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In their own words 4

Louise Erdrich

4 statements, newest first

(Did you feel you weren't finding yourself in the books you read?) LE: Perhaps that's why I was drawn to science fiction.
2020 · in The writer's library: the authors you love on the books that changed their lives by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager (2020), Own words
The reasoning behind the best schools being far away was to assimilate native children, to train them to live in a culture that was very different from their parents.
2020 · with NPR (2020), Own words
Now there is a lot more awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women. And it hasn't - of course, it hasn't stopped. It's probably gotten worse.
2020 · with NPR (2020), Own words