Chris La Tray | |
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Born | 1967 (age 56–57) |
Occupation | Writer |
Website | |
chrislatray |
Chris La Tray (born April 4, 1967) is a writer who lives in Missoula, Montana. He is a member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana and also identifies as Métis. [1] [2] His first full-length book, One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays From the World At Large won the 2018 Montana Book Award and a 2019 High Plains Book Award. He published Descended From a Travel-worn Satchel, a book of haiku and haibun poetry, in 2021. His next book, Becoming Little Shell is to be published in Summer 2023. [3] La Tray was named Montana’s poet laureate for 2023-2024. [4]
La Tray grew up in Frenchtown, Montana. His grandparents identified as Chippewa but his father denied the family's Native American ancestry. [5] He was raised with a knowledge of his Métis background, [2] but first became aware that his heritage was also Little Shell in his early 40s, a common experience for people of Little Shell heritage. [5] His Métis great-great-grandfather worked an interpreter for the US Army, as he knew multiple languages, including French, English, Cree, Chippewa (Ojibwe), Dakota, and Crow (Apsalooke). [2]
La Tray keeps a bi-weekly Substack newsletter called, "An Irritable Métis."
Prior to publishing full-length books, La Tray published numerous freelance nonfiction and short fiction pieces as well as photography, [6] and was a regular contributing writer for the Missoula Independent. [7]