Louise Erdrich (born Karen Louise Erdrich) is a celebrated Native American author known for her extensive body of work, which includes novels, poetry, and children's books that primarily focus on Native American characters and settings. She was born on June 7, 1954, in Little Falls, Minnesota, and is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota, a federally recognized Ojibwe people.

Erdrich is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant writers of the second wave of the Native American Renaissance. She has written a remarkable 28 books, encompassing various genres such as fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children's literature. In 2009, her novel The Plague of Doves was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. In November 2012, she was honored with the National Book Award for Fiction for her novel The Round House. In 2021, Erdrich received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Night Watchman.

In addition to her literary achievements, Erdrich is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis that specializes in Native American literature and serves the Native community in the Twin Cities.

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