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Louise Erdrich Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Louise Erdrich
Photo: Hilary Abe

Louise Erdrich

How to pronounce Louise Erdrich: er-drik (means rich earth)

Louise Erdrich Biography

Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is the award-winning author of many novels as well as volumes of poetry, children's books, and a memoir of early motherhood. Erdrich lives in Minnesota with her daughters and is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore.



This bio was last updated on 09/17/2024. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

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Interview

The author discusses her novel, The Mighty Red, with Kelly Gordon and Carrie Miller of MRP News.

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Louise Erdrich discusses The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, how she was able to develop a character that vacillates between the male and the female so organically, and many other thought-provoking elements.

Q. Your novel The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is the story of Father Damien Modeste and it spans from 1912 to the present.
A.
1911 or 1912, yes. It then moves forward to nearly the present. But it also includes some history of characters and those histories occur before the turn of the last century. It spans the emotional and historical landscape of my previous books as well and, I hope, brings them into some sort of focus or sheds new light on some of the characters's secrets. And of course it brings one character, Father Damien, who was a minor contributor to the book Tracks, into his/her own.

 
Q. Everything in the novel -- from people to places to the very landscapes -- seems to exist between two extremes. Damien is Agnes. Leopolda is somewhere between sainthood and acts of cavalier cruelty. Even the bank robber is called The Actor. There is almost a Manichaean split between things. And rather than being an expose on hypocrisy, it's more that...

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Books by this Author

Books by Louise Erdrich at BookBrowse
The Mighty Red jacket The Sentence jacket The Night Watchman jacket Future Home of the Living God jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Louise Erdrich but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Kaveh Akbar

    Kaveh Akbar

    Kaveh Akbar's poems appear in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, The Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. He is the author of two poetry collections: Pilgrim Bell and Calling a Wolf a Wolf, in addition to a... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Sentence

    Try:
    Martyr!
    by Kaveh Akbar

  • Rumaan Alam

    Rumaan Alam

    Rumaan Alam is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Leave the World Behind, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and adapted into a major motion picture, as well as two other novels. His writing has ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Future Home of the Living God

    Try:
    Leave the World Behind
    by Rumaan Alam

We recommend 69 similar authors


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