Editing Louise Erdrich (section)

== Personal life ==
Erdrich was born on June 7, 1954, in [[Little Falls, Minnesota]]. She was the oldest of seven children born to Ralph Erdrich, a German-American, and Rita (née Gourneau), an Ojibwe woman of French descent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tribune |first=Sarah T. Williams Star |title=The Three Graces |url=https://www.startribune.com/the-three-graces/15083971/ |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=Star Tribune|date=February 4, 2008 }}</ref> Both parents taught at a boarding school in [[Wahpeton, North Dakota]], set up by the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]]. Erdrich's maternal grandfather, Patrick Gourneau, served as tribal chairman for the federally recognized tribe of [[Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians]] for many years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/profiles/louise-erdrich/10/ |title=Louise Erdrich|work=[[Faces of America (PBS series)|Faces of America]]|publisher=PBS |author=Gates, Henry Louis Jr. |author-link=Henry Louis Gates |year=2010}}</ref> Though not raised in a reservation, she often visited relatives there.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Conversations with Louise Edrich and Michael Dorris|editor-last=Chavkin |editor-first=Allan |editor-first2=Nancy |editor-last2=Feyl |publisher=University of Mississippi|year=1994|isbn=0-87805-652-1|location=Jackson, Mississippi|pages=155}}</ref> She was raised "with all the accepted truths" of Catholicism.<ref name=":0" />

While Erdrich was a child, her father paid her a nickel for every story she wrote. Her sister Heidi became a poet and also lives in Minnesota; she publishes under the name [[Heid E. Erdrich]].<ref>{{cite web |website=HeidErdrich.com |url=http://heiderdrich.com/ |title=Heid E. Erdrich}}</ref> Their sister Lise Erdrich has written children's books and collections of fiction and essays.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vanguard |first=The Patriotic |date=2021-12-02 |title=2021 Pulitzer prize winner Louise Erdrich |url=https://www.thepatrioticvanguard.com/2021-pulitzer-prize-winner-louise-erdrich |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=The Patriotic Vanguard |language=en}}</ref>

Erdrich attended [[Dartmouth College]] from 1972 to 1976.<ref name="Louise Erdrich 2010">{{cite web|publisher=Poetry Foundation|url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/louise-erdrich|title=Louise Erdrich|date=August 24, 2021}}</ref> She was a part of the first class of women admitted to the college and earned a B.A. in English. During her first year, Erdrich met [[Michael Dorris]], an [[anthropologist]], writer, and then-director of the new Native American Studies program. While attending Dorris' class, she began to look into her own ancestry, which inspired her to draw from it for her literary work, such as poems, short stories, and novels. During that time, she worked as a lifeguard, waitress, researcher for films,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Conversations with Louise Edrich and Michael Dorris|editor-last=Chavkin|editor-first=Allan |editor-first2=Nancy |editor-last2=Feyl |publisher=University of Mississippi|year=1994|isbn=0-87805-652-1|location=Jackson, Mississippi|pages=94}}</ref> and as an editor for the Boston Indian Council newspaper ''The Circle.''<ref name=":0" />

In 1978, Erdrich enrolled in a Master of Arts program at [[Johns Hopkins University]] in [[Baltimore]], Maryland. She earned the Master of Arts in the Writing Seminars in 1979.<ref name="Louise Erdrich 2010"/> Erdrich later published some of the poems and stories she wrote while in the M.A. program. She returned to Dartmouth as a writer-in-residence.<ref name="Louise Erdrich 2010"/>

After graduating from Dartmouth, Erdrich remained in contact with Dorris. He attended one of her poetry readings, became impressed with her work, and developed an interest in working with her.<ref name=":0" /> Although Erdrich and Dorris were on two different sides of the world, Erdrich in Boston and Dorris in New Zealand for field research, the two began to collaborate on short stories.

The pair's literary partnership led them to a romantic relationship. They married in 1981, and raised three children whom Dorris had adopted as a single parent (Reynold Abel, Madeline, and Sava<ref name=":0" />) and three biological children together (Persia, Pallas, and Aza Marion<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Erdrich, Louise |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/culture-magazines/erdrich-louise|website=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>). Reynold Abel suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and in 1991, at age 23, he was killed when he was hit by a car.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Master Butchers Singing Club (Erdrich) - LitLovers|url=https://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/630-master-butchers-singing-club-erdrich?showall=1|website=www.litlovers.com|access-date=November 6, 2019|archive-date=September 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925053307/https://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/630-master-butchers-singing-club-erdrich?showall=1|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1995, their son Sava accused Dorris of committing child abuse;<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Broken Life|url=https://www.salon.com/1997/04/21/dorris/|last=Rawson|first=Josie|date=April 21, 1997|website=Salon|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref> in 1997, after Dorris' death, his adopted daughter Madeline claimed that Dorris had sexually abused her and Erdrich had neglected to stop the abuse.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Adopted daughter sues Michael Dorris estate, alleging sex abuse |url=https://apnews.com/1bdfc288e6b418c256058c46a9702ab4|website=AP NEWS |access-date=November 6, 2019}}</ref>

Dorris and Erdrich separated in 1995,<ref name=dorris /> and would divorce in 1996.<ref name=divorceandaccusations>{{cite book|last=Carnes|first=Mark C.|title=American National Biography: Supplement 2: Supplement 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZczV8ZxgL4C&pg=PA149|access-date=July 12, 2024|date=May 12, 2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-522202-9|pages=149–}}</ref> Dorris, who was accused of sexually abusing two of the biological daughters he had with Erdrich,<ref name=dorrisaccused>{{cite book|last=O'Reilly|first=Andrea|title=Encyclopedia of Motherhood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pcxqzal4bEYC&pg=PR5|access-date=July 12, 2024|date=April 6, 2010|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-6846-1|pages=5–}}</ref> died by suicide in 1997. In his will, he omitted Erdrich and his adopted children Sava and Madeline;<ref name=":3" /> Madeline accused Dorris of sexually abusing her as well.<ref name=dorris>{{cite book|title=New York Magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_T-gCAAAAMBAJ|access-date=December 8, 2012|date=June 16, 1997|publisher=New York Media, LLC}}</ref>

In 2001, at age 47, Erdrich gave birth to a daughter, Azure, whose Native American father Erdrich declines to identify publicly.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=A Woman With a Habit |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,104598,00.html |last1=Gray |first1=Paul |date=April 1, 2001 |magazine=Time |access-date=March 5, 2020 |archive-date=September 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925183625/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,104598,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> She discusses her pregnancy with Azure, and Azure's father, in her 2003 nonfiction book, ''Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country''.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title='Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country' by Louise Erdrich|url=http://old.post-gazette.com/books/reviews/20030713erdrich0713fnp5.asp|website=old.post-gazette.com|access-date=March 6, 2020|archive-date=March 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305050230/http://old.post-gazette.com/books/reviews/20030713erdrich0713fnp5.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> She uses the name "Tobasonakwut" to refer to him.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Erdrich |first=Louise|title=Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country|publisher=Harper Perennial|year=2014|isbn=978-0-06-230996-9|location=|pages=52, 57}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Knoeller|first=Christian|date=2012|title=Landscape and Language in Erdrich's "Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country"|journal=Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment|volume=19|issue=4|pages=645–660|doi=10.1093/isle/iss111|issn=1076-0962|jstor=44087160}}</ref> He is described as a traditional healer and teacher, who is eighteen years Erdrich's senior and a married man.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4" /> In a number of publications, Tobasonakwut Kinew, who died in 2012, is referred to as Erdrich's partner and the father of Azure.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SucjDAAAQBAJ&q=tobasonakwut+kinew+louise+erdrich+daughter&pg=PT5|title=A study guide for Louise Erdrich's "The Bingo Palace"|date=2012|publisher=Gale, Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-4103-2049-0|language=en}}</ref>

When asked in an interview if writing is a lonely life for her, Erdrich replied, "Strangely, I think it is. I am surrounded by an abundance of family and friends and yet I am alone with the writing. And that is perfect." Erdrich lives in [[Minneapolis]].<ref name="Interview">{{cite journal|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6055/the-art-of-fiction-no-208-louise-erdrich|title=Louise Erdrich, The Art of Fiction |number= 208|journal=[[The Paris Review]]|author=Halliday, Lisa|date=Winter 2010|volume=Winter 2010 }}</ref>