Acclaimed author Louise Erdrich to discuss writing, and her latest work. Tuesday, October 10, 2006.

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — The widely published author Louise Erdrich, who won the National Book Critics Circle Award for her first novel, Love Medicine will speak on Tuesday, October 10, at 5:30 p.m., in the Villard Room of the College Center. This event is free and open to the public.

Louise Erdrich, photo by AM

Erdrich, a North Dakota native and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwa (Chippewa), often chronicles the tribe in her writing. In Love Medicine (1984), a short story cycle, Erdrich follows the intertwined histories of Chippewa and mixed-blood families in North Dakota over half a century. The book prompted Pulitzer Prize-winning author Philip Roth to call her "the most interesting new American novelist to have appeared in years."

The Painted Drum (2005) is Erdrich's latest novel, exploring the strange power that lost children exert on the memories of those they leave behind. She is the author of eleven novels, as well as volumes of poetry, children's books, and a memoir of early motherhood, The Blue Jay's Dance. Her novels also include the National Book Award nominee The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (2001), The Antelope Wife (1999), a World Fantasy Award winner, Tales of Burning Love (1997), Baptism of Desire (1989), and The Beet Queen (1986).

Erdrich recently received the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for her short story "The Game of Silence" (2006), and her earlier story "Fleur" (1987) won the O. Henry Award. The Pushcart Prize in Poetry, the Western Literacy Association Award, the John Simon Guggenheim Award, and the Los Angeles Times award for fiction are among her other accolades.

This William Gifford Lecture is sponsored by the department of English. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations at Vassar should contact Cathy Jennings in the Office of Campus Activities, (845) 437-5370.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

This article was posted on Thursday, September 28th, 2006.