Louise Erdrich is a writer of novels, non fiction, children's books, poetry and short stories. On many works she collaborated with her husband, Michael Dorris. Dorris had three adopted children that Erdrich helped raise. They also had three children together. They all had fetal alcohol syndrome. The oldest as a young man was hit by a car and killed. They were later divorced. After the divorce, the other two adopted children accused their adoptive father of abusing them, including sexually. He committed suicide. Erdrich had another daughter after the divorce.
Her writing career got a big start when she won a short story contest sponsored by the Chicago Tribune. Both she and Dorris were writers. They would individually write the first draft and then share them with eachother and work on them together. Erdrich has written over 30 novels and other works.
She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota. She is of mixed blood with her mother being Chippewa. Her father was German American. From both sides of the family she heard many stories. These stories find their place in her works. She writes about the area where she grew up, native American stories as well as French and German.
She also runs a book store in Minneapolis called Birchbark Books which also sells native American art and
medicines. She promotes native authors and has a publishing company.
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