Lannan Foundation

Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, compassionately chronicles the intertwined histories of Native American and mixed-blood families of her native North Dakota. She is the author of ten novels including, The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, and Love Medicine, as well as poetry, children's books, and a memoir of early motherhood, The Blue Jay's Dance. Her latest book, Four Souls, tells the story of Fleur Pillager, who takes her mother's secret name, Four Souls, for strength and walks from her Ojibwe reservation to the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul seeking restitution from and revenge on the lumber baron who stripped her reservation. Erdrich lives with her four daughters in Minnesota and owns Birchbank Books, a small independent bookstore.

Louise Erdrich Bio and Cross Links

Gail Caldwell was born in Amarillo, Texas, and is chief book critic at The Boston Globe where she has been on staff since 1985. Caldwell was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for Distinguished Criticism and was noted for "her insightful observations on contemporary life and literature." She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is at work on her literary memoir, A Strong West Wind, to be published in 2005. Caldwell has said, "I don't feel that novels change the world. I think novels change people's hearts. People's hearts, one at a time, change the world."

Gail Caldwell Bio and Cross Links