Stolen: If They Haven’t Come for Yours, They Will with Chris La Tray

While many people believe that “what happened to the Indians” is old news, the careful observer will understand that this is far from the truth. History is a living, breathing thing, and the darker aspects of our society continue to cycle through Indian Country and beyond. Told through the lens of the experience of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the 574th, and most recently federally recognized tribe in the United States, Métis storyteller Chris La Tray will draw parallels between the Little Shell – known for more than 150 years as the “Landless” Indians – and events unfolding with a broader reach every day in communities across the country.

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, will be published by Milkweed Editions in Niibin, Summer, 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.

NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

*This program will be recorded and live streamed on MCAT’s Facebook, and will be available there to watch later.

View a full calendar of events for the NEA Big Read in Missoula