Sherman Alexie facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Sherman Alexie
Alexie in 2016
Born	(1966-10-07) October 7, 1966 (age 58) Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Occupation	Author poet screenwriter filmmaker
Nationality	Spokane Tribe of the Spokane Reservation, American
Genre	Native American literature, humor, documentary fiction
Literary movement	Indigenous Nationalism
Notable works	• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian • Smoke Signals • Reservation Blues • The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven • You Don't Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir • War Dances
Notable awards	American Book Award 1996 National Book Award 2007 PEN/Faulkner 2010

Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a talented Native American writer, poet, and filmmaker. He creates stories, poems, and movies that share his experiences as an Indigenous American. His family comes from several different tribes. Sherman Alexie grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington State. Today, he lives in Seattle, Washington.

One of his most famous books is the young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007). This book is based on some of his own life experiences. It won the 2007 U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature. It also won the Odyssey Award in 2008 for being the best audiobook for young people. Sherman Alexie himself read the audiobook.

He also wrote The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993). This is a collection of short stories. It was later made into the movie Smoke Signals (1998). Alexie wrote the movie script for Smoke Signals. His first novel, Reservation Blues, won an American Book Award in 1996. His 2009 collection of stories and poems, War Dances, won the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Early Life and Challenges
Education and Discovering Writing
Career as a Writer and Filmmaker
Personal Life
Arizona HB 2281 and Book Bans
Writing Style
Awards and Honors
See also

Early Life and Challenges

Sherman Alexie was born in Spokane, Washington. He is a member of the Spokane Tribe of the Spokane Reservation. He spent his childhood on the Spokane Indian Reservation. His father was from the Coeur D'Alene Tribe. His mother had family from the Spokane, Colville, Choctaw, and European American groups.

When Alexie was six months old, he had brain surgery. He was born with a condition called hydrocephalus. This condition means there was too much fluid in his brain. The surgery was successful, and he did not have brain damage. However, he did have other health issues as a child.

His parents faced many difficulties. His mother, Lillian, worked hard to support her six children. She sewed quilts and worked at the Wellpinit Trading Post.

Life at the reservation school was tough for Alexie. Other kids often teased him. He also faced unkind treatment from the teachers. They sometimes called him "The Globe" because his head was larger than usual. This was due to his hydrocephalus as a baby. Until he was seven, Alexie had seizures and other health problems. He had to take strong medicines to control them. Because of his health, he missed out on some activities that were important for young Native American boys. Despite these challenges, Alexie was an excellent student. He loved to read everything he could find.

Education and Discovering Writing

To get a better education, Alexie decided to leave the reservation. He went to high school 22 miles away in Reardan, Washington. He was the only Native American student there. He did very well in his classes. He also became a star player on the basketball team, the Reardan High School Indians. His classmates chose him as class president. He was also part of the debate team.

In 1985, his success in high school earned him a scholarship to Gonzaga University. This is a university in Spokane. Alexie first planned to become a doctor. But he found he didn't like anatomy classes. Then he thought about studying law, but that wasn't right for him either. He felt a lot of pressure to do well in college. He struggled to handle this stress.

In 1987, he left Gonzaga and went to Washington State University (WSU). There, he took a creative writing class. His teacher was Alex Kuo, a respected poet. Alexie was going through a difficult time in his life. Kuo became a mentor to him. Kuo gave Alexie a book of poetry by Native American writers. Reading these poems inspired Alexie greatly.

Career as a Writer and Filmmaker

Alexie published his first book of poetry and stories in 1992. It was called The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems. After this success, Alexie stopped struggling and focused on his writing. He left college just a few credits short of a degree. However, in 1995, Washington State University gave him an honorary bachelor's degree.

In 2005, Alexie helped start Longhouse Media. This is a group that teaches filmmaking skills to young Native Americans. It helps them use media to share their culture and make positive changes. Alexie has always supported programs that help young Native people.

Literary Works

Alexie reading at a literary event in 2016

Sherman Alexie's stories have appeared in many collections. These include The Best American Short Stories 2004 and Pushcart Prize XXIX. Many of his writings have also been published in magazines and online.

Themes in His Work

Alexie's poems, short stories, and novels explore important topics. He writes about the challenges faced by Native American people. These challenges include sadness, poverty, and difficult situations. He writes about life both on and off the reservation. He often uses humor and wit to make his stories lighter.

According to writer Sarah A. Quirk, Alexie asks three main questions in his work:

"What does it mean to live as an Indian today?"
"What does it mean to be an Indian man?"
"What does it mean to live on an Indian reservation?"

The main characters in his stories often struggle with their own feelings. They also try to understand their place in American society.

Poetry Collections

Soon after college, Alexie received important awards for his poetry. These included fellowships from the Washington State Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. His first two poetry books, I Would Steal Horses and The Business of Fancydancing, came out in 1992.

In these poems, Alexie uses humor to talk about the struggles of Native Americans today. Common topics include poverty and unfair treatment. Even though he uses humor, the messages are very serious. He won The Chad Walsh Poetry Prize in 1995.

The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems (1992) was very popular. Alexie compares his writing to "fancydancing." This is a colorful style of competitive powwow dancing. Older Indian dances were often private. But fancy dance was created for public entertainment. Alexie feels that writing gives him a similar way to express himself.

Other poetry collections by Alexie include:

The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems (1992)
Old Shirts and New Skins (1993)
First Indian on the Moon (1993)
Seven Mourning Songs For the Cedar Flute I Have Yet to Learn to Play (1994)
Water Flowing Home (1996)
The Summer of Black Widows (1996)
The Man Who Loves Salmon (1998)
One Stick Song (2000)
Face (2009)

Short Story Collections

Alexie published his first collection of prose, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, in 1993. This book has many interconnected short stories. Some of the characters from this book appear in Alexie's later works. This book is seen as a "coming-of-age" story for its main characters, Victor Joseph and Thomas Builds-the-Fire.

Ten Little Indians (2004) is another collection of short stories. These stories are set around Seattle. They feature Spokane Indians from different walks of life. In this book, Alexie challenges common ideas that people have about Native Americans. He also shows how Native American characters discover their own identities.

War Dances is a collection of short stories, poems, and other short writings. It won the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

Novels

In his first novel, Reservation Blues (1995), Alexie brings back characters from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Thomas Builds-the-Fire, Victor Joseph, and Junior Polatkin were teenagers in the short story collection. In Reservation Blues, they are now adult men in their thirties. Some of them are musicians in a band.

Indian Killer (1996) is a mystery story. It takes place in Seattle. The Native American characters in the book deal with city life and unfair treatment.

Alexie's young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007), is a coming-of-age story. It started as a memoir about his life on the Spokane Indian reservation. The novel is about a fourteen-year-old Native American boy named Arnold Spirit. Many parts of the story are based on Alexie's own life. For example, Arnold was born with hydrocephalus and was often teased. The story also shows events after Arnold transfers to Reardan High School, which Alexie also attended. The novel has received great reviews and is still very popular.

Flight (2007) also has a teenage main character. The narrator, who calls himself "Zits," is a fifteen-year-old orphan. He has a mixed Native and European background. He has moved between many foster homes in Seattle. The novel explores past experiences as Zits briefly sees into other people's lives.

Memoir

Alexie's memoir, You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, was released in June 2017. A memoir is a book where an author writes about their own life experiences. This book takes readers deep into Alexie's youth on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Alexie decided to change his book tour plans for this memoir. He explained that talking about the book was very emotional for him. He said he would be interviewed instead of performing. He also said he would only answer questions he felt comfortable with.

Films

In 1998, Alexie's film Smoke Signals became very well known. Alexie wrote the movie script based on his short story collection, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Characters and events from his other works appear in the film. Chris Eyre, a Cheyenne-Arapaho director, directed the film. It had a mostly Native American production team and cast.

The film is a "road trip" and "buddy" movie. It follows two young Native American men, Victor Joseph and Thomas Builds the Fire. They leave the reservation on a road trip to get Victor's father's body. During their journey, the movie shows flashbacks to their childhood. The film won top awards at the Sundance Film Festival.

The Business of Fancydancing, written and directed by Alexie in 2002, explores ideas about Native American identity. It looks at what it means to be Native American, living on or off the reservation, and other related topics. Evan Adams, who played Thomas Builds the Fire in "Smoke Signals," stars again. He plays an urban gay man with a white partner. The death of a friend brings the main character back to the reservation. There, he reunites with his childhood friends. Alexie hired an almost all-female crew to make this film. Many of the actors made up their own lines based on real events in their lives.

Another film project includes:

Sonicsgate (participant, 2009)

Personal Life

Sherman Alexie is married to Diane Tomhave. She is a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. She has Hidatsa, Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi heritage. They live in Seattle with their two sons.

Arizona HB 2281 and Book Bans

In 2012, a law in Arizona called HB 2281 removed Alexie's books from school lessons. Other authors' works were also removed. Alexie responded to this decision. He said that by banning his books, Arizona was showing a fear of educated young people. He believed that giving "brown kids some books about brown folks" could help them "change the world." He also said that trying to make their books disappear actually gave them "enormous power."

Writing Style

Alexie's writing style is influenced by many things. He uses parts of popular culture, Native American spirituality, and the realities of life on reservations. He combines these to create his characters and their world. Alexie often uses humor in his work. He does this as a way for Native Americans to survive culturally. It helps them deal with common ideas about Native Americans and how their unique tribal cultures are sometimes misunderstood.

Awards and Honors

1992

National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship

1993

PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Book of Fiction for The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

1994

Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award

1996

American Book Award (Before Columbus Foundation) for Reservation Blues
Granta Magazine: Twenty Best American Novelists Under the Age of 40
New York Times Notable Book for Indian Killer
People Magazine: Best of Pages

1999

The New Yorker: 20 Writers for the 21st Century

2001

PEN/Malamud Award

2007

National Book Award, Young People's Literature, for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

2009

American Library Association Odyssey Award as the year's "best audiobook for children or young adults", read by Alexie

2010

PEN/Faulkner Award for War Dances
Native Writers' Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award
Puterbaugh Award, the first American Puterbaugh fellow
California Young Reader Medal for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

2013

The John Dos Passos Prize for Literature