Karen Louise Erdrich In 1954, Karen Louise Erdrich was born to a Chippewa Indian mother and German-American father in Little Falls, Minnesota. She grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota as a member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe. Her family lived near the reservation where her parents worked as teachers for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Louise believes that her interest in writing is due to her lack of exposure to television and movies while she was growing up. She recalls that her father gave her and her sisters the encouragement to write stories by paying them a nickel for each story they wrote. In 1972 sh