Alexie, Sherman

(US, 1966– )

Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Native American, grew up on an Indian reservation. Typically his work investigates the intersection points between white America and Native-American culture. In Reservation Blues (1994), legendary blues musician, Robert Johnson, arrives at a Spokane reservation, giving his guitar to Native American Thomas-Builds-a-Fire, whose rock'n'roll band subsequently achieves widespread success. Indian Killer (1998) describes a serial killer who scalps white men in Seattle, and the subsequent racial strife engendered by the murders. The Toughest Indian in the World (2000), the most recent of his nine novels, explores the lives of urban Indians who work as lawyers, writers and other professionals. The multi-talented and prolific Alexie has also written poetry and short fiction, and wrote and co-produced the independent film Smoke Signals (1998) which won the audience award for the most popular film at the Sundance Film Festival.

Louise Erdrich, Tomson Highway, Thomas King, N. Scott Momaday  DG