College of Arts and Sciences

Spring 2010 Case Writer: David Treuer

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David Treuer, an Ojibwe Indian from Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota, is the Western Illinois University Lola Austin Case Writer-in-Residence in the English and journalism department March 29-April 2.

As the Case Writer-in-Residence, he will meet with various English classes and faculty throughout the week, as well as hold individual meetings with students to discuss their writing.

Treuer will also be in the Simpkins Hall Writing Center beginning at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 31 for a question and answer session, and he will give a reading at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 1 in the University Union Lincoln Room.

He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, which honors the best short fiction, poetry or other writings published by the small presses; as well as fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bush Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation. Treuer divides his time between his home on the Leech Lake Reservation and Minneapolis. He is the author of three novels and a book of criticism. His essays and stories have appeared in Esquire, TriQuarterly, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Slate.com.

Treuer published his first novel, "Little," in 1995 and his second novel, "The Hiawatha," in 1999. His third novel, "The Translation of Dr. Apelles," and a book of criticism, "Native American Fiction: A User's Manual," appeared in 2006. "The Translation of Dr. Apelles" was named a "Best Book of the Year" by The Washington Post, Time Out and City Pages.

Treuer, who earned his Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Michigan (2000), is a faculty member in the English department at the University of Minnesota.

Western Illinois' Fred Ewing and Lola Austin Case Writer-in-Residence Endowment is designed to nurture upcoming writers by providing learning for a lifetime through extended residencies for visiting writers and greater opportunities for more interaction between students and established writers.

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