Louise Erdrich was born on June 7, 1954. Most of Erdrich's novels are set in the same fictional continuity, exploring life on and around a fictional Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. Each novel stands alone as a complete work, but characters and families may reappear in multiple books; a minor character from one novel may take on a central role in another.
Erdrich's stories are often told by multiple voices, giving the reader multiple perspectives on events, or shifting from one generation of characters to another. There are hints of magical realism, and the Ojibwe trickster figure Nanapush is a recurring character. Her work is often concerned with the differences between Native American culture and traditions and those of the white world outside the reservation.
Her first novel, Love Medicine (print), was published in 1984 and features many hallmarks of her style. It's the story of two families whose lives and fates intertwine over a 60-year period. Each chapter is narrated by a different character, and the prose is usually more conversational than formal. Love Medicine was the winner of the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award.
Erdrich has continued to receive literary awards throughout her career – the 1998 World Fantasy Award for The Antelope Wife (e-book | e-audio | print), one of her few novels not set in the shared continuity of the reservation; the 2012 National Book Award for The Round House (e-book | e-audio | print | audio); another National Book Critics Circle Award in 2016 for LaRose (e-book | e-audio | print | audio).
The Round House and LaRose, along with 2008's The Plague of Doves (e-book | e-audio | print | audio), make up what Erdrich calls "the justice trilogy;" each book explores the consequences of a tragic event as the survivors search for a fair and proper resolution.
Erdrich has said that her favorite of her novels is The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (e-book | e-audio | print), in which an Ojibwe priest and a colleague from outside the reservation investigate the life of a woman who may be considered for sainthood.
Erdrich also writes poetry; a selection of her best work is available in Original Fire (e-book | print). Her short stories are collected in The Red Convertible (print). Erdrich's most recent novel, Future Home of the Living God (e-book | e-audio | print | audio), ventures into dystopian fiction, imagining a near future in which women begin giving birth to babies who appear to be from earlier stages of human evolution.
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