Sherman Alexie

Alexie is a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian born and raised in the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington. His father held various jobs, including truck driver and logger and his mother was a social worker. Alexie was born hydrocephalic and underwent a brain operation at the age of 6 months, but was not expected to survive. When he did live, doctors predicted he would live with severe mental retardation. Although spared this, he did suffer through seizures and bed-wetting throughout his childhood. Preferring to stay inside, he developed a love for reading, liking Steinbeck as a five-year-old. Alexie faced alcoholism for five years before becoming sober at 23. He graduated with honors from Reardan High, where he was the only Indian. Alexie planned to be a doctor until he "fainted three times in human anatomy class" and stumbled into a poetry workshop at Washington State University. He attened Gonzaga University in Spokane on a scholarship and graduated in American Studies from