Louise Erdrich 1954-

INTRODUCTION  Born June 7, 1954 Little Falls, Minnesota  Grew up in Wahpeton, ND  Ralph Louis Erdrich, teacher bureau of Indian Affairs, German American  Rita Joanne (Gourneau) Erdrich affiliated with bureau of Indian Affairs, French Ojibway,  Oldest of 7 children  Member of Turtle Mountain band of Chippewa

Education  In 1 st coed class at Dartmouth 1972  Received BS from Dartmouth 1976  Received creative writing master’s at John Hopkins University 1979

Life storyLife story  Married Michael Anthony Dorris, writer and author of Native American studies, October 10, 1981  April 11, 1997 Michael committed suicide  They have 3 daughters  After Michael’s death Louise moved back to Minnesota  After Michael’s death Louise returned to Minnesota where she later had another a daughter.  She presently owns and operates a store in Minneapolis called Birchwood Books and Native Art

InThe beginningInThe beginning  Although first published as poet, she considers herself storyteller  She writes stories based from life stories; her own and others.  Erdrich attributes her interest in literature in part to her cultural heritage  winner of numerous prizes for her literature, she has published both fiction and poetry.  is widely known as one of the most prominent Native American writers today  "My father used to give me a nickel for every story I wrote.... So at an early age I felt myself to be a published author earning substantial royalties." Louise Erdrich

Some of her work and awardsSome of her work and awards  Louise Erdrich she began receiving awards in college and has claimed many awards  National Book Critics Circle Award in 1984, Love Medicine  The Plague of Doves was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction  She received the Scott O'Dell award for historical fiction  She was nominated National Book Award finalist several times

Writings I have readWritings I have read  FLEUR 1987 received O. Henry Awards for distinguished short story of the year  This is story about a young lady it is both funny and sad at the same time. In the beginning she drowns and two men save her both disappear after saving her. She wants to play cards with the men and later is raped by one of them. She later drowns in the same lake, she washed up on the shore this time and no one would help her because she told them “You’ll take my could not place.” Later one of the men died in a bathtub. Fleur later plays cards with some men in an other town. After she takes all their money for a month they raped her. The thing is that whenever someone crosses her path they meet their demise, 2 disappear, old Indian man died in a tub and the men who raped her were froze to death in a freezer they hid out to escape a tornado that came thru right after raping her. It seemed that everywhere she went bad things happened. The way the Erdrich

Works CitiedWorks Citied  The Plague of the Doves  The Birchbark House  Love Medicine  Michael Anthony Dorris  Lousie Erdrich  A-Fi/Erdrich-Louise.html A-Fi/Erdrich-Louise.html   ich/erdrich.htm ich/erdrich.htm