Chris La Tray (born April 4, 1967) is a writer who lives in

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five ...

. He is a member of the

Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana (Ojibwe language: Esensininiwag) is a federally recognized tribe of Ojibwe, Métis, and Cree people in Montana. The name of the tribe is often shortened to Little Shell. In 2023, the population of ...

and also identifies as

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

. His first full-length book, ''One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays From the World At Large'' won the 2018

Montana Book Award The Missoula Public Library is the public library of Missoula, Montana. The library provides free resources for residents and guests of Missoula County, Montana. A library card is free, and available, to all Montana residents. Description Th ...

and a 2019

High Plains Book Award The High Plains Book Awards are North American literary awards for literature about the High Plains (United States), High Plains region of the United States and Canada. Description The awards go to books that highlight the experience and lands ...

. He published ''Descended From a Travel-worn Satchel'', a book of

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

and

haibun is a prosimetric literary form originating in Japan, combining prose and haiku. The range of ''haibun'' is broad and frequently includes autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem, short story and travel journal. History The term "''haibun''" was ...

poetry, in 2021. His next book, ''Becoming Little Shell'' was published on August 20, 2024, by Milkweed Editions. It won a 2025 Pacific Northwest Book Award. La Tray was named Montana’s poet laureate for 2023-2024. La Tray grew up in

Frenchtown, Montana Frenchtown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is part of the Missoula metropolitan area. The population was 1,958 as of the 2020 census. History Early settlers gave ...

. His grandparents identified as Chippewa but his father denied the family's Native American ancestry. He was raised with a knowledge of his Chippewa background, but first became aware that his heritage was also Métis and Little Shell in his early 40s, a common experience for people of Little Shell heritage. His Métis great-great-grandfather worked an interpreter for the US Army, as he knew multiple languages, including French, English,

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

, Chippewa (Ojibwe),

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota ...

, and

Crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...

(Apsalooke). La Tray keeps a bi-weekly Substack newsletter called, "An Irritable Métis." Prior to publishing full-length books, La Tray published numerous freelance nonfiction and short fiction pieces as well as photography, and was a regular contributing writer for the ''

Missoula Independent ''The Missoula Independent'' was a free weekly alternative newspaper in Missoula, Montana, United States. It was acquired by Lee Enterprises, owner of the daily ''Missoulian'', in 2017. On September 11, 2018, Lee Enterprises shut down the ''Inde ...

''.

References

External links

An Irritable Métis newsletterPoetry at Tiny Seed Journal
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Tray, Chris 1967 births 21st-century Native American writers Living people American Ojibwe people Writers from Montana Ojibwe male writers People from Missoula, Montana Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana American Métis people Métis writers