David Treuer

After a six-year hiatus, David Treuer (Little and The Hiawatha) returns with a pair of titles that make an audacious claim for a prominent place among Native American writers. An Ojibwe from the Leech Lake Reservation, Treuer teaches English at the University of Minnesota, but his focus remains on the history and current plight of Indians. Native American Fiction: A User’s Manual takes a rigorous and occasionally controversial look at the work of some of the biggest names in the field—which makes the simultaneous release of Treuer’s new novel a pretty gutsy move on his part. With A User’s Manual he throws down the gauntlet, and with The Translation of Dr Apelles—a love story within a love story—he steps directly into potential crossfire from critics armed with his own bullet points. 612-625-6000; www.bookstore.umn.edu