The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
The most accessible entry point and Alexie's best-known novel.
Author guide
Sherman Alexie Books in Order
Sherman Alexie (born 1966) is a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene writer whose work includes poetry, short fiction, novels, memoir, screenplays, and children's books. His writing frequently explores Indigenous identity, reservation life, family, trauma, humor, and cultural displacement. His honors include the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction.
poetryshort fictionnovelsmemoiryoung adult fictionchildren's literaturescreenwriting
Catalog record updated .
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
A foundational short-story collection that introduces recurring characters, settings, and themes.
You Don't Have to Say You Love Me
A substantial memoir offering direct context for Alexie's life, family, and literary concerns.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (4)
- Reservation Blues
novel · 1995
When Robert Johnson passes his enchanted guitar to Thomas-Builds-the-Fire, an epic journey of redemption begins that will take the storyteller and musician from the reservation, to Seattle, to Manhattan, and all points in between.…
- Indian Killer
novel · 1996
A novel about a serial killer who is terrorizing Seattle, hunting and scalping white men. The story evolves around John Smith, who was born Indian and raised white, torn between two cultures and how he handles it.
- Flight
novel · 2007
From the National Book Award–winning author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the tale of a troubled boy’s trip through history. Half Native American and half Irish, fifteen-year-old “Zits” has spent much of his short…
- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
young-adult-novel · 2007
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
Nonfiction (1)
- You Don't Have to Say You Love Me
memoir · 2017
The Instant New York Times Bestseller Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction A searing, deeply moving memoir about family, love, loss, and forgiveness from the critically acclaimed, bestselling National Book…
Short fiction (6)
- The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems
short-story-and-poetry-collection · 1992
- The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
short-story-collection · 1993
Offers a fictional portrait of the characters, language, traditions, and daily life of those living on the Spokane Indian Reservation.
- The Toughest Indian in the World
short-story-collection · 2000
A collection of nine short stories about the lives and loves of modern-day American Indians.
- Ten Little Indians
short-story-collection · 2003
Collection of stories about Native Americans who find themselves at personal and cultural crossroads, faced with heart-rending, tragic, sometimes wondrous moments of being that test their loyalties, their capacities, and their notions of…
- War Dances
short-story-and-poetry-collection · 2009
A collection of short stories includes the title story, in which a famous writer, who just learned he may have a brain tumor, must decide how to care for his distant, American Indian father who is slowly dying.
- Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories
short-story-collection · 2012
The author of The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and the PEN/Faulkner award-winning War Dances combines his beloved classic short stories with new ones in this anthology that features tales involving donkey basketball leagues,…
Children's books (1)
- Thunder Boy Jr.
picture-book · 2016
"Thunder Boy Jr. wants a normal name ... one that's all his own. Dad is known as Big Thunder, but Little Thunder doesn't want to share a name"--
Poetry (15)
- On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City
poetry · 1990
- The Business of Fancydancing
poetry · 1991
- I Would Steal Horses
poetry · 1992
- First Indian on the Moon
poetry · 1993
The renowned Native American author offers a collection of poems, prose poems, mini-essays, and fragments of stories, woven together in a tapestry of pain about death by fire and survival by endurance on the Spokane Indian Reservation.
- Postcards to Columbus
poetry · 1993
- Old Shirts and New Skins
poetry · 1993
- Water Flowing Home
poetry · 1995
- The Summer of Black Widows
poetry · 1996
Collection of poems revealing the spirit of North American Indian attitudes on life, love, and other experiences.
- The Man Who Loves Salmon
poetry · 1998
- One Stick Song
poetry · 2000
- Dangerous Astronomy
poetry · 2005
- Face
poetry · 2009
From the Publisher: In this first full collection in nine years, Alexie's poems and prose show his celebrated passion and wit while also exploring new directions. Novelist, storyteller and performer, he won the National Book Award for his…
- What I've Stolen, What I've Earned
poetry · 2013
Poetry. Native American Studies. "One of the major lyric voices of our time" (NY Times Book Review), winner of the National Book Award, Alexie publishes his first new collection of poetry and short prose in six years.
- Hymn
poetry · 2017
Frequently asked questions about Sherman Alexie
Where did Sherman Alexie grow up?
He grew up in Wellpinit, Washington, on the Spokane Indian Reservation. He attended tribal elementary school before going to Reardan High School off the reservation.
What is Sherman Alexie's Native identity?
Sherman Alexie is identified as a Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Native American writer. The Poetry Foundation lists him under Native American poetry and culture with that identification.
Why is Sherman Alexie important in Native American literature?
Cambridge University Press places Alexie in the second generation of the modern Native American literary renaissance and highlights his focus on Native lives and nationhood. His career also extended across poetry, fiction, film, and young people’s literature.
Sources: cambridge.org (opens in a new tab)nationalbook.org (opens in a new tab)
What influenced Sherman Alexie's writing?
His writing was shaped by growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation and by absorbing both Coeur d’Alene tribal storytelling and American television culture. Those influences contributed to his distinctive blending of Indigenous perspectives, humor, and popular forms.
What awards did Sherman Alexie win?
His major honors include the 2007 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for War Dances. His screenplay for Smoke Signals also won the Audience Award and Filmmaker Trophy at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival.
Sources: nationalbook.org (opens in a new tab)penfaulkner.org (opens in a new tab)