Dartmouth College in 1972. He married author Louise Erdrich in 1981; they
separated in 1995. His National Book Critics Circle Award–winning The Broken
Cord: A Family’s Ongoing Struggle with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (1989) details the
couple’s experiences with the first of the three children Dorris had adopted before
their marriage. His other works include the novel A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
(1987), with an African American/American Indian protagonist; its sequel, Cloud
Chamber (1997); short-story collections; and works for children.
Joy Harjo (1951– )
Muscogee Creek poet, playwright, and musician. Her books include The Last
Song (1975); In Mad Love and War (1990), winner of the American Book Award;
The Woman Who Fell from the Sky (1994); The Spiral of Memory: Interviews (1996);
A Map to the Next World: Poems and Tales (2000); and How We Became Human:
New and Selected Poems, 1975–2001 (2002).
Linda Hogan (1947– )
Chickasaw poet, playwright, novelist, and environmentalist. She is the author of
the novels Mean Spirit (1990), a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Solar Storms (1995);
Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World (1995); The Woman Who Watches
over the World (2001), a memoir; and several volumes of poetry and essays.
Adrian C. Louis (1947– )
Lovelock Paiute author of Skins (1995), Wild Indians and Other Creatures (1996),
Logorrhea (2006), and editor of Shedding Skins: Four Sioux Poets (2008). He is a
cofounder of the Native American Journalists Association.
N. Scott Momaday (1934– )
Born Novarro Scotte Mommedaty. Of Kiowa and Cherokee decent, he won the
Pulitzer Prize for House Made of Dawn (1968) in 1969 and received the National
Medal of Arts in 2007. His other works include The Way to Rainy Mountain
(1969), The Names: A Memoir (1976), The Ancient Child (1989), The Man Made of
Words: Essays, Stories, Passages (1997), In the Presence of the Sun (1992), and In the
Bear’s House (1999).
Simon J. Ortiz (1941– )
Full-blooded member of the Acoma Pueblo tribe and one of the most respected
poets of his generation. Ortiz is the author of Going for the Rain (1976), A Good
Journey (1977), Fight Back: For the Sake of the People, for the Sake of the Land (1980),
From Sand Creek (1981), Fightin’: New and Collected Short Stories (1983), The
People Shall Continue (1988), and Out There Somewhere (2002).
Susan Power (1961– )
Standing Rock Sioux poet and novelist best known for her novel The Grass
Dancer (1995), which received the PEN/Hemingway Award for best first fiction.
Her Roofwalker (2002) is a collection of short stories.
Wendy Rose (1948– )
Poet, artist, activist, and anthropologist of Hopi, Miwok, and European descent,
born Bronwen Elizabeth Edwards. Her poetry collections include Hopi Road-