Michael Dorris

Dorris died last week at the age of 52. In 1989, He won a National Book Critics Circle award for The Broken Cord. A first person account of how fetal alcohol syndrome affected his oldest son, Abel, who later died. He and his wife, Louise Erdrich, wrote several novels together, including Love Medicine, The Crown of Columbus and Yellow Raft in Blue Water. Both are part Native American, and Dorris spent several years of his childhood on an Indian reservation. In January, his new novel Cloud Chamber was published by Scribner Books.

Author Michael Dorris. His work is wide-ranging in topic and emotional impact. In his earlier book "The Broken Cord" he wrote of his struggle to understand the severe health and behavior problems of an adopted son, Abel, who had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Abel, a Native American, died in an accident after a difficult life. Dorris himself is part Modoc Indian. He founded the Native American Studies Program at Dartmouth College where he now teaches Anthropology.

The novelist is best known for his books for adults--A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, The Crown of Columbus, which he wrote with his wife, writer Louise Erdrich, and The Broken Cord, about his adopted son's struggle with fetal alcohol syndrome. His latest book, Morning Girl, is for children. It's about the Taino, the 15th century Native Americans Columbus first encountered