Finding Her 'Sense of Place'

“Here I am, where I ought to be. A writer must have a place where he or she feels this, a place to love and be irritated with.” – Louise Erdrich

Born on this date in 1954, Erdrich, who is Ojibwe, was born as Karen Louise in Little Falls, MN (also the birthplace of Charles Lindbergh). 

Winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, Erdrich is widely acclaimed as one of our most significant Native American writers and has won numerous awards for her work, including the National Book Award for The Round House in 2012.  In 2009 she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for The Plague of Doves.      Erdrich’s novels create multiple narratives in the same fictional area, combining the tapestry of local history with current themes and modern consciousness. 

In addition to her ongoing writing ventures, she operates a well-known neighborhood bookstore in Minneapolis called Birchbark Books, focusing primarily on Native American literature and support for Native writers. And, both she and her sister Heid, a noted poet and author in her own right, have been generous in sharing their writing expertise – particularly on character development and “voice” – with all writers.

“By writing,” Erdrich said, “I can live in ways that I could not survive.”

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