Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich est l’une des grandes voix de la nouvelle littérature indienne d’outre-Atlantique. D'origine amérindienne, elle est l'auteur de nombreux romans, poèmes et de livres pour enfants.

Background

She is an enrolled member of the federally recognised tribe of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, of the Anishinaabe (also known as Ojibwe and Chippewa) nation. Born in Little Falls, Minnesota in 1954, oldest of seven children of a German-American father and a Chippewa mother who was half Ojibwe and half French.

background origines / enrolled inscrit; ici, reconnu / tribe tribu.

Major works and awards

Erdrich is widely regarded as one of the most significant writers of the second wave of the Native American Renaissance. She has written 28 books in all, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children’s books. In 2009, her novel The Plague of Doves was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In November 2012, she received the National Book Award for Fiction for her novel The Round House. She was awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction at the National Book Festival in September 2015.

work ici, oeuvre / widely par beaucoup / significant important / The Plague of Doves La Malédiction des colombes / Pulitzer Prize prix fondé en 1917, récompensant chaque année aux É.-U. les meilleurs talents dans les domaines journalistique et littéraire.

Pulitzer Prize winner

In 2021, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Night Watchman (Celui qui veille published in France by Albin Michel). The novel is based on events from the life of her grandfather, about a tribal chairman, Thomas Wazhashk and his efforts to fight against the push for Indian termination in 1953, which would have ignored prior U.S.-Native American treaties.

chairman président, chef / push mouvement, campagne / termination extinction / treaty traité.

Bookshop

Erdrich is also the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis that focuses on Native American literature and the Native community in the Twin Cities. Literary readings are hosted there including Erdrich’s new works as well as events to celebrate the works and careers of primarily local Native writers. She considers it a “teaching bookstore” which also sells Native art, traditional medicines and Native American jewelry.

owner propriétaire / bookstore librairie / to focus on être consacré à / Twin Cities (surnom de l’agglomération de Minneapolis-Saint Paul (la plus importante de l’Etat du Minnesota) / to host accueillir, organiser / primarily principalement, essentiellement / medicine remède / jewelry bijoux.