Since the publication of her first novel, “Love Medicine,” in 1984, Louise Erdrich has written fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children’s books. Her work has earned multiple awards, including the National Book Award (“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/books/the-round-house-louise-erdrichs-new-novel.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Round House</a>”) and the Pulitzer Prize (“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/books/review/night-watchman-louise-erdrich.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Night Watchman</a>”).
On this week’s episode, Erdrich talks with Gilbert Cruz, the editor of The New York Times Book Review, about her new short story collection, “Python’s Kiss.” She reflects on some of the formative experiences that shaped her as a writer, including watching “Planet of the Apes” and growing up in North Dakota, a state that housed hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
She says that writing has been her “only real way of processing” her experiences and that her creative process is full of mystery.
“There’s really no way to control everything that happens in a piece of art. Some of these stories — I wasn’t sure that I had written it,” she said, adding: “And yet, obviously, it was in my handwriting.”
Plus, Erdrich recommends the one book that always puts her to sleep.
Books discussed on this episode:
“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1946/08/25/archives/mr-orwell-and-the-communists-his-animal-farm-is-a-compassionate-and.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Animal Farm</a>,” by George Orwell
“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/books/review/lauren-groff-brawler.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Brawler</a>,” by Lauren Groff
“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/10/archives/winter-in-the-blood-by-james-welch-176-pp-new-york-harper-row-695.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Winter in the Blood</a>,” by James Welch
“The Pillow Book,” by Sei Shōnagon
“The Death of the Heart,” by Elizabeth Bowen
“Save Me, Stranger,” by Erika Krouse
“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/best-toni-morrison-books.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Bluest Eye</a>,” by Toni Morrison
“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/26/books/books-of-the-times-in-a-no-man-s-land-of-memories-and-loss.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Austerlitz</a>,” by W.G. Sebald
“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/travel/24footsteps.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Rings of Saturn</a>,” by W.G. Sebald
“Whistler,” by Ann Patchett
“Make the Golf Course a Public Sex Forest,” published by Maitland Systems Engineering
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