Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie is a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene author, poet, and filmmaker whose collection War Dances (2009) won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2010. Born on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, Alexie is one of the most celebrated and controversial Native American writers of his generation. Alexie is known for his sharp wit, his frank engagement with alcoholism and poverty on reservations, and his willingness to challenge both mainstream and Native American received wisdom. His breakthrough works include The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993) and the novel Reservation Blues (1995). His young adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) became a modern classic and won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. In 2018, several women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Alexie, leading him to withdraw from public life. His literary legacy remains contested. He grew up in Wellpinit, Washington.