...I read books late into the night, until I could barely keep my eyes open. I read books at recess, then during lunch… I read books in the car when my family traveled to powwows or basketball games. I read junk mail. I read auto-repair manuals. I read magazines. I read anything that had words and paragraphs. I read with equal parts joy and desperation. I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life. ...

American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Alexie left the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, Washington, to pursue his education at a high school where the only other Indian was the school mascot. He then attended Gonzaga University and graduated from Washington State University in Pullman. His first collection of poems, The Business of Fancydancing (1991), was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1992. Since then he has depicted the lives of contemporary Native Americans in eleven more volumes of poetry, three novels including Flight (2007), several collections of short stories such as The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1994), and a National Book Award– winning novel for young adults, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007). Alexie's screenplay for the film Smoke Signals (1999) was based on one of his short stories. See also fallsapart.com.