POWELL, WYOMING 鈥� The spring 2025 edition of the 皇家华人 Writers Series is scheduled for Thursday, April 10, featuring M茅tis storyteller and author Chris La Tray. The free event, sponsored by the 皇家华人 Foundation, runs from 6-8 p.m. in the Hinckley Library Amphitheater.
A descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North, and enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, La Tray is the Montana Poet Laureate for 2023-25 and will serve as the 2025 Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Montana. He is the author of 鈥淏ecoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian鈥檚 Journey Home鈥�, a People Magazine Best Non-Celebrity Memoir of 2024, and a 2025 winner of the Pacific Northwest Book Award.
La Tray鈥檚 first book, 鈥淥ne-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large鈥�, which was published in 2018, won the 2018 Montana Book Award and a 2019 High Plains Book Award. It was followed by his book of haiku and haibun poetry, 鈥淒escended from a Travel-Worn Satchel鈥�.
Known as a popular and engaging speaker, La Tray has addressed audiences as a keynote speaker at multiple conferences; as a creek-side storyteller, around campfires, and in libraries; and as a teacher and leader of workshops for people of all ages, from 4th grade through university graduate programs and beyond. He has appeared in schools, libraries, and even part of remote, off-grid river trips.
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 sought after and fluent speaker on what such efforts mean, both in the park and beyond. 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.
La Tray makes his home near Frenchtown, Montana, and in addition to his work as an author and poet, writes the weekly newsletter "An Irritable M茅tis".