Louise Erdrich to receive Library of Congress fiction prize by Nick Davies

Highly acclaimed Ojibwe writer Louise Erdrich has just been announced as the latest recipient of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, Alexandra Alter reports for the New York Times. Widely known for her novels and poetry that touch on the Native American experience, Erdrich is also the owner of independent bookstore Birchbark Books, a small Minneapolis store that focuses on Native American literature and community.

The Library of Congress award is a comparatively new one; it’s only existed in its current form since 2013, although it’s been given out under different names since 2008. Per the Library’s website, its aim is to “honor an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished not only for its mastery of the art but also for its originality of thought and imagination. The award seeks to commend strong, unique, enduring voices that, throughout long, consistently accomplished careers, have told us something about the American experience.” Previous recipients include Toni Morrison, Don DeLillo, and most recently, E.L. Doctorow.

Erdrich was thrilled to have won the prize, describing it in an email interview as “an out of body experience.” She further expounded:

It seems that these awards are given to a writer entirely different from the person I am — ordinary and firmly fixed. Given the life I lead, it is surprising these books got written. Maybe I owe it all to my first job — hoeing sugar beets. I stare at lines of words all day and chop out the ones that suck life from the rest of the sentence. Eventually all those rows add up.

Librarian of Congress (which is in the running for best job title ever) James H. Billington lauded Erdrich, saying in a press statement that she “has portrayed her fellow Native Americans as no contemporary American novelist ever has. Her prose manages to be at once lyrical and gritty, magical yet unsentimental, connecting a dreamworld of Ojibwe legend to stark realities of the modern-day.”

Erdrich has previously won the National Book Award for Fiction for her novel The Round House, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Plague of Doves. She’ll receive the Library of Congress prize on September 5, during the National Book Festival in Washington, DC.