Sherman Joseph Alexie, Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a
writerA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
,
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, filmmaker, and occasional
comedianA comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
. Much of his writing draws on his experiences as a
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. Two of Alexie's best known works are
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in HeavenThe Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is a 1993 collection of interconnected short stories by Sherman Alexie. The characters and stories in the book, particularly "This is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" provided the basis of Alexie's screenplay for the film Smoke Signals.The...
(1994), a book of short stories and
Smoke SignalsSmoke Signals is an independent film directed and co-produced by Chris Eyre and with a screenplay by Sherman Alexie, based on the short story "This is what it means to say Phoenix, Arizona" from his book Lone Ranger and Tonto: Fistfight in Heaven. It won several awards and accolades, and was...
, a film.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time IndianThe Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is a novel for young adults written by Sherman Alexie. It is told in the first-person, from the viewpoint of Native American teenager and budding cartoonist Arnold Spirit, Jr....
, a semi-autobiographical young adult novel for which he won a 2007
National Book AwardThe National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
, was his latest commercial success. He lives in
Seattle, WashingtonSeattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
.
Sherman Alexie was born on October 7, 1966 in the Spokane Indian Reservation in
Wellpinit, WashingtonWellpinit is an unincorporated community in Stevens County, Washington, United States. Wellpinit has a post office with ZIP code 99040. The population of the ZIP Code Tabulation Area for 99040 was 930 at the 2000 census....
.