Treuer's brash virtuosity has served him well. He has authored several successful novels, including The Translation of Dr. Appelles and The Hiawatha, and served on the editorial board of the newly released A New Literary History of American Literature edited by Dr. Werner Sollors and Greil Marcus. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, McKnight Presidential Fellowship and Franklin Research Award from the American Philosophical Society.
Underpinning the fire works of his career, however, is an abiding love for his culture, community and family. Primarily raised on the Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota, he treasures his Ojibwe language and religion. "I am connected to Leech Lake by bonds of religion and kinship in ways I can't begin to tabulate," he says. This connection, he says, feeds him physically, spiritually and emotionally.
He recalls that the author Toni Morrison, his academic adviser at Princeton University, suggested he devote himself to something larger than his writing. He has taken her advice to heart. Passionate about Ojibwe language and cultural preservation, he is immersed in community activities that further this goal.
Surprisingly, Treuer did not always want to be a writer. As an undergraduate at Princeton, he was interested in classical music composition. Fortunately, he soon learned his talent did not lie in music.
"I'm so lucky I found this out at a young age rather than wasting my time pursuing something I could never attain," he says.
He still has an appreciation for music and the talent that produces it.
"I admire the musician Prince's virtuosity, his ability to do what he wants to do. I think that I approach this same thing with my writing," he observes.
