Sherman J. Alexie, The Man, The Legend

            Sherman J. Alexie Jr. has written over 300 short stories, poems, and books.  He has overcome obstacles and made great plans for himself.  Alexie was born on Oct. 7, 1966.  From the beginning of his life Alexie has a difficult time.   Born with water on the brain, hydrocephalic he under went brain surgery at the young age of six months.  Survival was not expected, and if he did survive he was expected to have severe mental retardation.  He managed to beat all of these odds.  Suffering from seizures and uncontrollable bed wetting, Alexie still learned to read by age 3, and finished The Grapes of Wrath by age 5.

            Alexie is a Spokane/Coeur d’ Alene Indian.  He was raised on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, there are about 1,100 Tribal members that live there.  Being such a small community Alexie was the butt of many jokes because of the side effects to the medical problems he endured during the early years of his life.  After learning that the reservation was using out dated books he decided to attend Reardon High School that was off the reservation.  Alexie and the mascot were the only Indians in this public school, but he succeeded academically and found basketball to be easy for him also.

            Sherman Alexie got a scholarship after graduation to attend Gonzaga University.  Then after two years he transferred to Washington State University his plan was to become a doctor, so he enrolled in pre-med course.  Alexie found out the hard way that human anatomy was not suited for him, he picked himself off the classroom floor several times before he found a poetry workshop.  Writing became his thing, he did very well and graduated from Washington State University with a BA in American Studies.  Soon after graduation he received the Washington State Arts Commission Poetry Fellowship and a year later the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship.  Two of his poetry collections were published soon after his second fellowship.

            Alexie did have a small problem with alcohol at the age of 19.  After four years of drinking he kicked the habit when Hanging Loose Press agreed to publish his first book of poetry.  The Business of Fancydancing.  He has never touched the stuff since.

            Sherman Alexie has published more than 17 books since 1991, besides novels, he has written short stories, screenplays, and poems.  His writing is mostly autobiographical that show the harsh life on reservations with a humor interwoven in the texts.  Alexander Kuo, Alexie’s Poetry professor at Washington State University is credited for encouraging him to write, his encouragement did well.  His novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian recently won the National Book Award for Literature for Young People.