sherman alexie

by aliyah gore

literary works

One Stick Song
(June 2000)
The Toughest Indian in The World
(May 2000)
Smoke Signals: A Screenplay
(January 2000)
The Man Who Loves Salmon
(June 1998)
The Summer of Black Widows
(1996)
Indian Killer
(September 1996)
Water Flowing Home
(January 1995)
Reservation Blues
(May 1995)
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
(1993)
First Indian on the Moon
(December 1993)
Old Shirts & New Skins
(January 1993)
I Would Steal Horses
(1993)
The Business of Fancydancing
(October 1991)
Anthology contributions
(Various)

the toughest indian in the world

            Sherman Alexie was born on 7 October, 1966 to a Spokane Indian mother and a Coeur d’Alene Indian father on the Spokane Indian reservation in Wellpinit, Washington.  He was born hydrocephalic, or with water on his brain, and underwent brain surgery at 6 months old, and was not expected to live.  After overcoming the odds of an early death, doctors predicted that he would have severe mental retardation, and, once again the doctors were wrong.  Although there was no sign of retardation Alexie suffered from seizures and uncontrollable bed-wetting throughout his childhood.
            Despite his early hardships, Alexie grew into a bright child, learning to read by age three and devouring novels like John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath by age five, and was constantly ostracized by his peers.
            Alexie was educated on the Indian reservation until he found his mother’s name in a textbook at his school.  Not wanting to become like the rest of his peers and stay on the reservation for his entire life, Alexie decided to go to high school outside of the reservation.  Alexie ended up going to Reardan High where he was “the only Indian…except for the school mascot.”  At Reardan High, he excelled in academics and played for the school basketball team.
            After graduating from Reardan High, Alexie attended Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, before transferring to Washington State University (WSU) after two years.  There, he pursued his career as a doctor until he “fainted three times in human anatomy class and needed a career change.”  He found his new career in a poetry workshop taught by Chinese-American writer and poet, Alex Kuo.  At the workshop he became immersed in the works of Linda Hogon, Simon Oritz, Joy Harjo, James Walech, and Adrian Lewis, all poets who had written about reservation life.  The line that really made up his mind was in a poem by Adrian Lewis.  “Oh, Uncle Adrian, I’m in the reservation of my mind.”  Something clicked, and in 1989 Alexie started writing.
            Shortly after graduating, Alexie received the Washington State Arts Commission Poetry Fellowship in 1991 and the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship in 1992.  Shortly after receiving his second fellowship, two of his poetry collections were published, The Business of Fancydancing and I Would Steal Horses.  The 23-year-old Alexie, having a problem with alcoholism since he had begun school at Gonzaga, immediately sobered at the news.
            Alexie now lives with his wife and two sons in Seattle, and has published 14 books of poetry and short stories about life on a contemporary Indian reservation, and Indian-white relationships.