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Louise Erdrich

カレン・ルイーズ・アードリック

Karen Louise Erdrich

Pen Names: Milou North（Collaborative pen name used with spouse Michael Dorris）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1954-06-07 （Little Falls, Minnesota, U.S.）
Nationality
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, United States
Languages
English
Religion
Roman Catholic
Residence History
Visits to relatives on Turtle Mountain and Wahpeton, North Dakota → New Hampshire (farm near Dartmouth; former residence) → Baltimore, Maryland (during Johns Hopkins studies) → Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. (current residence)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Short story writer, Poet, Children's author, Bookstore owner
Active Years
1979-
Affiliations
Birchbark Books (owner), Wiigwaas Press (co-founder)
Influenced By
Ojibwe oral traditions and mythology, William Faulkner (often compared/influential), Michael Dorris (early collaborator and spouse)
Influenced
Contemporary Native American writers and younger Indigenous authors
Nominations
2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist — The Plague of Doves, Finalist for the National Book Award — The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, The Birchbark House — National Book Award finalist (children's literature)

Education

Dartmouth College
Arts and Sciences / English
Degree: BA
Period: 1972–1976
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: United States
Member of Dartmouth's first class to admit women
Johns Hopkins University
Graduate School (Writing Seminars) / Writing Seminars
Degree: MA
Period: 1978–1979
Year of Graduation: 1979
Country: United States
Completed MA in the Writing Seminars; wrote poems and stories during program

Awards

Pushcart Prize (Poetry)
1983
Organization: Pushcart Press
Result: Winner
National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
1984
Work: Love Medicine
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: Winner
Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
1984
Work: Love Medicine
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: Winner
O. Henry Award
1987
Work: Fleur (short story)
Organization: O. Henry Awards
Result: Winner
World Fantasy Award—Novel
1999
Work: The Antelope Wife
Organization: World Fantasy Convention
Result: Winner
Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
2006
Work: The Game of Silence
Category: Children's historical fiction
Organization: Scott O'Dell Award
Result: Winner
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
2009
Work: The Plague of Doves
Organization: Anisfield-Wolf Awards
Result: Winner
National Book Award for Fiction
2012
Work: The Round House
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: Winner
National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction
2016
Work: LaRose
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: Winner
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
2021
Work: The Night Watchman
Organization: The Pulitzer Prizes
Result: Winner
Prix Femina étranger
2023
Work: The Sentence (French translation: La Sentence)
Organization: Prix Femina committee
Result: Winner
New York Public Library Library Lions
2025
Organization: The New York Public Library
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Love Medicine

1984 Native American literature / linked short stories

A debut linked collection of stories set around a fictional North Dakota reservation, using multiple narrators to explore family, loss, and cultural conflict.

FamilyMemoryIndigenous traditions
Translations
  • Love Medicine

The Plague of Doves

2008 Historical novel dealing with social justice

A layered narrative about the historical lynching of Native people falsely accused of murder and the lasting trauma across generations.

RacismJusticeMemory and intergenerational impact
Translations
  • The Plague of Doves

The Round House

2012 Novel about law and revenge

Set against an assault on a reservation, the novel follows a boy's coming-of-age and examines legal shortcomings and tribal rights. Winner of the 2012 National Book Award.

Coming of ageLegal injusticeTribal sovereignty
Translations
  • The Round House

The Night Watchman

2020 Historical novel

Inspired by her grandfather's life and a campaign against the federal 'termination' policy, the novel portrays mid-20th-century Native community struggles. Winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize.

Political struggleFamily memoryIndigenous rights
Translations
  • The Night Watchman

LaRose

2016 Contemporary novel

A novel about restitution, healing, and community relationships after a tragic accident. Winner of the 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award.

AttributionHealingCommunity
Translations
  • LaRose

Bibliography

  • Love Medicine (1984)
  • The Beet Queen (1986)
  • Tracks (1988)
  • The Plague of Doves (2008)
  • The Round House (2012)
  • The Night Watchman (2020)
  • The Sentence (2021)

Translations of Works

  • La Sentence (French translation of The Sentence)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Multiperspectivity / multiple narratorsPostmodern techniquesIncorporation of Ojibwe oral traditions and myth
Recurring Motifs
Family and kinshipMemory of land and placeTrickster figuresCatholic faith and tensions

Legacy

Louise Erdrich is a major figure in contemporary American and Native American literature, acclaimed for her interlinked series of novels depicting reservation life and Indigenous culture. Her many major awards have given her broad readership and academic attention.

Academic Societies

  • Native Writers' Circle of the Americas (honoree)

Quotes

  • Strangely, I think it is. I am surrounded by an abundance of family and friends and yet I am alone with the writing. And that is perfect.
    Source: Interview in The Paris Review (2010)

Trivia

  • As a child her father paid her a nickel for every story she wrote.
  • Owner of Birchbark Books, an independent bookstore in Minneapolis focused on Native literature.