Karen Louise Erdrich is a renowned Native American author born on June 7, 1954, in Little Falls, Minnesota. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, a federally recognized Ojibwe people. Erdrich is celebrated as one of the most important writers of the second wave of the Native American Renaissance.

Erdrich has an extensive body of work, having written 28 books, including novels, poetry, non-fiction, and children's books. Her notable achievements include being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction with her novel The Plague of Doves in 2009, and winning the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012 for her novel The Round House. In 2021, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Night Watchman.

She was married to author Michael Dorris, and they collaborated on several works. The couple separated in 1995 and divorced in 1996. Tragically, in 1997, Dorris took his own life amid allegations of sexual abuse involving their daughters.

In addition to her writing, Erdrich owns Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis focusing on Native American literature and the Native community in the Twin Cities.