Writer Louise Erdrich discusses her haunting new novel, 'The Sentence'

Tom Hall's guest today is the acclaimed author, Louise Erdrich. She is the author of 18 novels, a collection of short stories, three collections of poetry, more than a half a dozen children's books, and two works of non-fiction. She has twice won the National Book Critics Circle Award; she has also won a National Book Award, and last June, she won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel, The Night Watchman. Ms. Erdrich is one of the most gifted and compelling writers in American literature, and readers all over the world are irresistibly drawn to the bevy of beautiful, complex and endearing characters who navigate her worlds in fascinating and unexpected ways, and whose stories are told with grace, compassion and persuasive authority. Just last year, Louise Erdrich spoke with Tom Hall on this program about her then-newly published novel, The Night Watchman.  That wonderful tale drew its inspiration from the true story of her grandfather, an activist leader of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in the 1950s. Her new novel, published on Tuesday, takes place in contemporary Minneapolis, Minnesota, as the pandemic rages on and around the time of the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests. Many of its characters are employees or customers at a store inspired by Birchbark Books, a bookstore Louise Erdrich owns. The novel even includes a character who is an author named Louise... It’s called The Sentence.  Louise Erdrich joins us on Zoom from her home outside Minneapolis.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.