Louise Erdrich, initially published as a poet, now writes fiction - daughter of an Ojibwa Indian mother and German-American father, her work is often based in Native American life.

Erdrich is in New Zealand for the NZ Post Writers and Readers week. She spoke to Scoop about how the storytelling traditions of her family and heritage have influenced her and about writing from outside the mainstream culture. She also compares the state of first people issues in the United States to what she has seen of New Zealand.

Scoop Audio Interview: Louise Erdrich (7 minutes 40 seconds, 2.19MB)
Click to download the file (MP3)

Writers and Readers Week: Louise Erdrich
Scoop Full Coverage: Festival 2006