Louise Erdrich, award-winning author and owner of Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, Minn., was named this year's recipient of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. The award is named for the late sisters and silent film actors whose will called for the establishment of an award for "an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind's enjoyment and understanding of life," the Associated Press reported.
Erdrich told the AP that after learning of the Gish award, she researched the lives of the two actors and was impressed by how they made everyone involved in a given film feel appreciated. "They would talk to the stage hands and anyone else who was around, the people who helped put a production together. That's something very close to my heart," said Erdrich, citing her experience as a bookstore owner. "I love being part of the entire structure of bringing books to people."
Gish Prize selection committee member Sara Reisman praised Erdrich's writing for its "indelible effect on my understanding of Indigenous life.... Adjacent to her writing practice is Birchbark Books, a community-based teaching bookstore with international presence that amplifies the work of Native and non-Native writers (and) celebrates that which makes each of us different."