Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie Laughing

Sherman Alexie was born on the 7th of October on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. He descends from the Spokane Indians, his mom, and the Coeur d' Alene Indians, his dad. Sherman was born hydrocephalic, meaning there is excessive water in the brain; this required him to receive surgery. Sherman has always felt different, as he is made of many stereotypes. Along with having surgery as a young child, he read Grapes of Wrath at age 5. Sherman In school at the reservation, Sherman strived to be better than he was expected too. His mom went there, his relatives, and he really did not want to continue the chain of staying on the reservation as an adult. So he decided to have a better education, and attended a high school in Reardan, Washington. Then as his life moved on he went to Gongzaga University on scholarship that his parents helped pay for, and transferred to Washington State after 2 years to study pre-med. As he continued this, he knew his passion was always in literature and in arts. Sherman knew he wanted to receive his bachelors in american studies, so he did. At this point he was a 3-time poetry slam champion, and had won the Washington arts commission poetry fellowship award & the national endowment for the arts poetry fellowship.

Sherman Alexie

Sherman used to be an alcoholic, but he has been sober since 23, and began to write novels and short stories. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is one of his short stories, and is won the PEN/Hemingway award for best first book of fiction. 

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven

Sherman knew that he was rising to fame now, or gaining fans. He then followed with the novel Reservation Blues and the Novel Indian Killer, also both award winners. His work is from his experiences as a Native American on and off of the reservation. He rewrote one of his short stories with Chris Eyre into a screen play for Smoke Signals. This movie was shown at Sundance Film Festival and won awards, and this gained him more audience members. Sherman thinks that his audience is primarily women and gays, and he thinks actual Indians don't really appreciate all of his work. One of his Films Fancy Dancing is about a gay Indian poet, honestly he should have seen that one coming. According to Sherman most Indians are homophobic, or at least the "Redneck Indians" are, as "Liberal Indians" are not.

"I just laugh when I hear Indian Artists say 'I'm doing this for my people' Bull***! And how many of those people live on the Rez? How many are working, teaching third grade at the tribal school?"
-Sherman Alexie

Sherman believes that he is tangible evidence of the possibilities. He means that he is not doing it for his people, he is showing the people on the Rez that it IS possible to not be a failure or an alcoholic. He shows that you can be the biggest stereotype and still succeed with your dreams. He wants them to defy gravity and become something that they only read about in magazines.

Sherman Alexie

Sherman now Lives in Seattle with his wife and two kids. His recent work includes

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

Ten little Indians (2003)
War Dreams (2007)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian (2007)
War Dances (2009)
Sherman has won the Stranger Genius Award, the Boston Glob-Horn Book Award, the National Book Award, a Pushcart Prize, PEN/Malamud Award, and has been called 



"One of the best American novelist under the age of 40" by Granta Magazine.




Sources:
Poetry.org
Contemporarylit.about.com
Identitytheory.com