I realized after I posted this that I failed to mention the most interesting thing about this interview. Chris grew up in a home where being Native was barely acknowledged, much less discussed. So much of his new book, Becoming Little Shell, is about his journey of getting to know his heritage, but the other fascinating storyline is that while he was on that personal journey, the tribe was also going through the final steps of a long battle to become officially recognized by the government, which happened in 2019. So most of the discussion in this interview is about his new book and those two topics.
Chris LaTray grew up in Frenchtown, Montana with the vague knowledge that he was part Native American, but because his family never talked about it, he avoided exploring his heritage for most of his younger life. But after working at a corporate job that required too much time on the road, not to mention a bit too much sucking of his soul, Chris eventually quit and decided to pursue what had always been his real passion, for writing. In 2018, he published an unusual book called One Sentence Journal that essentially started out as just what it says—Chris set out to write one fabulous sentence every day, addressing a variety of topics, from the beauty of Montana to life with his dogs, his job at Fact and Fiction, one of the best independent bookstores in Montana, or his emerging identity as a Native American. Chris added some poetry and essays to give the book more shape, but it’s hard to imagine a book less geared toward commercial success. Which is part of the beauty of writing, because thankfully, there are entities out there that reward people for great writing, and nobody was more surprised than Chris when he was informed that he’d won the Montana Book Award in 2018. He followed with a book of poems, Descended from a Travel-Worn Satchel, and in a few months, his next book, Becoming little Shell, will be released. I was honored to be able to read an advanced copy, and I’m happy to discuss this book which is a combination of Chris’s growing awareness of what it means to be a member of the Little Shell Tribe, and a parallel story of how the tribe itself finally won a hard-fought effort to be recognized by the US government as an official tribe.
Episode Nine - Chris La Tray