Sherman AlexiePoet, Writer, Filmmaker

Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr.• Born October 7, 1966• Grew up on Spokane Indian Reservation• Wellpinit, Washington

• Great-grandfather: Russian descent• Father: Coeur d’Alene descent• Mother: Colville, Flathead (also know as Choctaw), Spokane,

Euroamerican descent• Born with hydrocephalus (lots of cerebral fluid in brain)• Underwent surgery at 6 months – successful

• Excluded from many activities due to health issues• Teased often by other children

Education• Reardan High School• 30 miles from the reservation• Only Native American student

• Won scholarship to Gonzaga University• Started pre-med, switched to law – neither worked out• 1987 dropped out, enrolled at Washington State University• Quit school 3 credits short• 1995 awarded bachelor’s degree from WSU

Some Known Works• The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, 1993, collection

of short stories• Reservation Blues, 1995, first novel• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, 2005, young-

adult novel• Some of his Poetry Collections• I Would Steal Horses, 1992• The Business of Fancydancing, 1992• The Summer of Black Widows, 1996• One Stick Song, 2000

• Film writing• Smoke Signals, based on The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in

Heaven• The Business of Fancydancing