Sherman Aexie was born in 1966 ano grew up on the SooKane Indian Reservation in
Wehpirit, Washngton. A[thaugh he was born with water on tee brain and not expected
survive, tie cameo to reac oy the time he vas thee a”d became a voracious reader
a an exceptonafy young age. His c:assmates ndcjea him for ts, but he ‘onet’eless
made reading and education a priority, attending coliege on a scholarship and finding a
ocetry teacher who encouragea him to write Since then, he has pubished over twenty
o’oks, including noves, snort story and poetry collections, and screenplays. Me has writ
screenplays for three movies, inciuaing Smoke Signals, To: wnicn tie won numerous
awards Among his other numerous awards, Aiexie wor the World Heavywe ght Poetry
Bout title in 1998 and keot the tite for four years. On top of aS that, Alexie aso freouently
performs stand-uo at comedy festivals.
Clearly, Alexie’s life story has been an unusua one. Coming from a world of poverty, he
managed to become successful and crtical’y acclaimed. In the short essay included here,
Aexie discusses how he came to literacy. throuh wna: Deborah randt woud ca tee
sponsorship” of Sjerman ccm:cs and n’s fattier’s love of oooks. He nones that i ne had
been “anything but an Indian boy ‘lying on the reservation, he might nave been called a
prodigy.” Instead, he tr.as considered “an oodity” ara. 5)
