Debra Magpie Earling

Debra Magpie Earling
Born	August 3, 1957 Spokane, Washington
Occupation	Novelist, short story writer, University of Montana English professor
Ethnicity	Bitterroot Salish
Alma mater	University of Washington ; MA in English, MFA in Fiction Writing, Cornell University

Debra Cecille Magpie Earling (born August 3, 1957 Spokane, Washington) is a Native American novelist, and short story writer.^[1] She is the author of Perma Red and The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, which was on display at the Missoula Museum of Art in late 2011.^[2] Her work has also appeared in Ploughshares and the Northeast Indian Quarterly.

Life

She is of the Bitterroot Salish (tribe).^[3]

She is a graduate of the University of Washington, and holds both an MA in English and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Cornell University.^[4]

Earling is currently a faculty member in the English Department at the University of Montana at Missoula.^[5][6]

Awards

• 2007 Guggenheim Fellow ^[7]
• 2003 American Book Award
• 2006 NEA grant ^[8]

Works

• Perma Red. BlueHen Books. 2002. ISBN 978-0-399-14899-6.
• The Lost Journals of Sacajewea. Editions Koch. 2010.

Anthologies

• William Kittredge, Annick Smith, eds. (1991). The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-96974-9.
• Craig Lesley, Katheryn Stavrakis, eds. (1991). Talking Leaves: Contemporary Native American Short Stories. Delta. ISBN 978-0-385-31272-1.
• Kim Barnes, Mary Clearman Blew, eds. (2001). Circle of Women: Anthology of Western Women Writers. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3367-6.
• Sue Thomas, ed. (1994). Wild women: contemporary short stories by women celebrating women. Overlook Press. ISBN 978-0-87951-514-0.
• Caroline Patterson, ed. (2006). "Bad Ways". Montana Women Writers: A Geography of the Heart. Farcountry Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-1-56037-405-3. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
• Allen Morris Jones, William Kittredge, eds. (2004). "Real Indians". The Best of Montana's Short Fiction. Globe Pequot. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-59228-269-2. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
• Alvin M. Josephy, ed. (2007). "What We See". Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes. Random House, Inc. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-4000-7749-6. Retrieved 2015-01-05.

Reviews

Debra Magpie Earling's debut novel Perma Red is something of a miracle. The University of Montana creative writing professor began writing it in 1984 and, over the years, it has been through at least nine different rewrites, trimmed from an epic-length 800 pages to a compact 288, burned to a crisp in a house fire, and rejected by publishers who loved the writing but thought the original ending too dark and brutal. Through it all, Earling persevered and the novel stands as a testament to her faith and patience.^[9]

References

1. Kay Juricek; Kelly J. Morgan (1997). Contemporary Native American Authors: A Biographical Dictionary. Fulcrum Pub. ISBN 978-1-55591-917-7.
2. "The Lost Journals of Sacajawea: Debra Magpie Earling with Photo-Interventions by Peter Rutledge Koch" (PDF). Missoula Art Museum. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
3. "Debra Magpie Earling". Native American Authors. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
4. "Debra Earling". Cornell Writers. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
5. "Debra Magpie Earling". The University of Montana Creative Writing Program. Archived from the original on February 28, 2012. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
6. "Debra Earling". The University of Montana - Department of English - People - Faculty. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
7. "Debra Magpie Earling". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
8. "Debra Earling". NEA. Retrieved 2014-11-04.
9. "Review | Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling | "Stepping Forward", January Magazine, David Abrams". januarymagazine.com. Retrieved 2015-01-05.

External links

• "Debra Magpie Earling", University of Minnesota