Chris La Tray is Missoula-based poet and essayist and an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. His first book, One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large, was the Winner of the 2018 Montana Book Award. The book was a finalist for Best Book by Indigenous Writer at the 2019 High Plains Book Award and won for the Best First Book.
Most recently, he is the author of Descended From a Travel-worn Satchel: Haiku & Haibun, published in 2021 through the Montana Poets Series edited by Mark Gibbon and printed by Foothill Publishing. An Irritable Métis is the title of his popular email newsletter. His new book, a memoir, Becoming Little Shell, will be coming out soon.
Chris La Tray grew up in Frenchtown, Montana, and currently lives in Missoula. He was raised with a knowledge of his Métis background, but first became aware that his Little Shell heritage in his early 40s, a common experience for many people of Little Shell heritage.
Chris is a natural storyteller and frequently lectures on the history of Chippewa Indians and Métis Culture. He is also a teacher with the Missoula Writers Collaborative, working with grade school students on various reservations in northwest part of Montana.
