Sherman Alexie was born on October 7, 1966 in the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. He is a successful writer, poem, filmmaker, and occasional comedian. He is dead serious, irreverent, college-educated, street smart and a thought-provoking public speaker. Born hydrocephalic (a cerebrospinal abnormality), which means with water on his brain, Alexie underwent a brain operation at the age of 6 months and was not expected to survive. When he did beat the odd, doctors predicted he would live with severe mental retardation. Despite his health problems, Alexie learned to read by age three and devoured novels such as John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wreath” by age 5.

As a teenager, Alexie planned to be a doctor and enrolled a pre-med courses at WSU, but after fainting numerous times in human anatomy class, he realized he needed to change his career path. That change was fueled when he stumbled into a poetry workshop at WSU.

Eventually, Alexie made the conscious decision to leave his reservation and attend Reardan High School, where he knew he would receive a better education. At Reardan High School he was the only Indian, except from the school mascot. There he excelled academically and became a star player on the basketball team. This experience inspired his first adult novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian”.

In 1985, Alexie enrolled at Gonzaga University on a scholarship. In 1987, he was transferred to Washington State University where he fell under the influence of Alexander Kuo. Kuo inspired Alexie to write poetry, and soon after graduating, Alexie published his first two collections of poems, “The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems” and “I Would Steal Horses”. It should be noted that, when “The Business of Fancydancing” was published, a review in the New York Times called him “One of the major lyric voices of our time”.

In 2005, Alexie became a Founding Board Member of Longhouse Media, a non- profit organization that is committed to teaching film- making skills to Native American youth, and to use media for cultural expression and social change. Mister Alexie has long supported youth programs and initiatives dedicated to our uplifting artist Native youth.

Alexie Sherman has written numerous poems, novels, fictions and has produced many films, as well. His works have been translated in 12 languages such as French, Swedish, Finnish, Persian, Japanese, Swahili and so on. All his works are characterized by equal doses of trouble and humor. His storytellings offer a tragicomic vision of contemporary Native American Life, as his interests in Native American Culture was obvious. The narrative power of his poems has a furious energy. Most of his poems are open, improvisational and effectively using repetition and parallelism and are characterized as dynamic events. In his poetry collections, Alexie illuminates the despair poverty and alcoholism that often shape the lives of Native Americans living on reservations. His poems, novels and short stories evoke sadness and indignation, yet also leave the readers with a sense of respect and compassion for characters who are in seemingly hopeless situations. Involved with crime, alcohol, or drugs Alexie’s protagonists struggle to survive the constant battering of their minds, bodies and spirits by white American society and their own self- hatred and sense of powerlessness. While he depicts the lives of Native Americans who attempt to escape their situation through alcohol and other forms of self- abuse, Alexie’s characters also access a mental emotional and spiritual outlet, which he refers to as “Fancydancing”. A key characteristic of Alexie’s writing is irony and his dark humor is often buoyed by an exquisite sense of timing.

Alexie’s stories have been included in several prestigious short story anthologies, including “The Best American Short Stories 2004”, edited by Lorry Moore and Pushchart Prize XXIX of the Small Presses. Additionally, a number of his pieces have been published in various literary magazines and journals, as well as, online publications.

Alexie Sherman is also noted for his love of basketball, both as an audience member and as a player. He is a loyal and enthusiastic supporter of the now relocated Seattle Supersonics.

Nowadays, Alexie lives in Seattle with his wife Diane Tomhave and their two sons. He deals with reading, stand- up comedies, writing, performances with musicians like Jim Boyd and collaborations for album recordings (Reservation Blues). He has been awarded with numerous prizes and honors some of which are: American Book Award, PEN/ Faulkner, PEN/ Hemingway and National Book Award.