Chris La Tray is a Métis storyteller, a descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North and an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. His third book, Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home, was published by Milkweed Editions on August 20, 2024. His first book, One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large won the 2018 Montana Book Award and a 2019 High Plains Book Award. His book of haiku and haibun poetry, Descended from a Travel-worn Satchel, was published in 2021 by Foothills Publishing. Chris writes the weekly newsletter “An Irritable Métis” and lives near Frenchtown, Montana. He is the Montana Poet Laureate for 2023–2025.
La Tray’s most recent book, Becoming Little Shell – a memoir combining the story of the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe, the most recent tribe to receive federal restoration from the United States Government, the history of the Métis people, and La Tray’s own search to find a place with them – tells, in the words of Robin Wall Kimmerer, (Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants), “a story as strong and beautiful as a Métis sash, a story of identity, kinship and the journey toward justice.” David Treuer (The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present) says, “This book will, without a doubt, become a classic in Native American literature.” Finally, Pulitzer finalist Sierra Crane Murdoch (Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country) says Becoming Little Shell is “a beautiful, big-hearted book.” Among many other glowing mentions (including an Indie Next selection by national independent booksellers), the book received a Starred Review at Kirkus and was pick-of-the-month in two categories (Memoir/Biography and History) at Amazon.
La Tray is a popular and engaging speaker who mixes Anishinaabe-based Indigenous worldview into everything he talks about. He has addressed audiences as a keynote speaker at multiple conferences; as a storyteller creekside, around campfires, and in libraries; and as a teacher and leader of workshops for people of all ages, 4th grade through university graduate programs and beyond. These workshops happen in schools, in libraries, and even as part of remote, off grid river trips and in cabins at private and public lands, wilderness areas and national parks.
Besides poetry and storytelling, La Tray is deeply engaged in efforts focused on Indigenous education and language revitalization. He is also involved with multiple organizations working to “re-Indigenize” Yellowstone National Park, an effort that makes him an often-sought and fluent speaker on what such efforts mean, both in the park and beyond. Finally, he has become the unofficial spokesman for the Little Shell, a tribe whose story and history provides a microcosm of discussing essentially every aspect of the historical interaction between the United States and the Native people of Turtle Island.
“Chris La Tray is a compelling storyteller who draws in reflection as a listener, integrating humor and wisdom. He is generous when speaking to a group of settlers, acknowledging historical atrocities, while inviting a shared experience of being human.” — Erin Butts, Assistant Professor, Carroll College, Helena, MT
