Debra Magpie Earling

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| name = Debra Magpie Earling

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|08|03}}

| birth_place = Spokane, Washington

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Novelist
short story writer
University of Montana English professor

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| alma_mater = University of Washington ; MA in English, MFA in Fiction Writing, Cornell University

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| awards = Spur Award for Best Novel of the West (2003)

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Debra Cecille Magpie Earling (born August 3, 1957 in Spokane, Washington) is a Native American novelist, and short story writer.{{cite book|author1=Kay Juricek|author2=Kelly J. Morgan|title=Contemporary Native American Authors: A Biographical Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/contemporarynati0000juri|url-access=registration|year=1997|publisher=Fulcrum Pub.|isbn=978-1-55591-917-7}} She is a member of the Bitterroot Salish (tribe).{{Cite web|url=http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A625|title=Debra Magpie Earling|work=Native American Authors|accessdate=2014-11-03}} She is the author of Perma Red and The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, which was on display at the Missoula Museum of Art in late 2011.{{Cite web|last=Koch|first=Peter Rutledge|author-link=Peter Rutledge Koch|title=The Lost Journals of Sacajawea: Debra Magpie Earling with Photo-Interventions|url=http://www.missoulaartmuseum.org/files/documents/pressReleases/Lost_Journals.pdf|url-status=live|work=Missoula Art Museum|accessdate=2014-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130903061525/http://www.missoulaartmuseum.org:80/files/documents/pressReleases/Lost_Journals.pdf |archive-date=2013-09-03 }} Her work has also appeared in Ploughshares, the Northeast Indian Quarterly, and many anthologies.

Education and career

At 18, Earling became the first public defender in the Tribal Justice System of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana.{{Cite web|url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/166159/Earling,%20Debra%20Magpie.pdf?sequence=1|title=Debra Magpie Earling|last=Voices from the Gaps|date=2009|website=|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427034932/http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/166159/Earling,%20Debra%20Magpie.pdf?sequence=1 |archive-date=2016-04-27 |access-date=}} She is a graduate of the University of Washington, and holds both an MA in English (1991) and an MFA in Fiction Writing (1992) from Cornell University.{{Cite web

| title = Debra Earling

| work = Cornell Writers

| accessdate = 2014-11-03

| url = http://www.writers.cornell.edu/entirelist/#e

}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/earling-debra-magpie-1957|title=Earling, Debra Magpie 1957- {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=2020-03-02}}

Earling is currently a faculty member in the English Department at the University of Montana at Missoula.{{Cite web|title=Debra Magpie Earling |work=The University of Montana Creative Writing Program |accessdate=2014-11-04 |url=http://www.cas.umt.edu/english/creative_writing/faculty/earling.html |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228213425/http://www.cas.umt.edu/english/creative_writing/faculty/earling.html |archivedate=February 28, 2012 }}{{Cite web

|title=Debra Earling

|work=The University of Montana - Department of English - People - Faculty

|accessdate=2014-11-04

|url=http://www.cas.umt.edu/english/people/facultydetails.cfm?id=561

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101109032115/http://www.cas.umt.edu/english/people/facultydetails.cfm?id=561

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=2010-11-09

}} In 2016, she became the first Native American director of the University of Montana's creative writing program.{{Cite web|url=https://missoulian.com/news/local/debra-magpie-earling-honored-as-new-head-of-um-creative/article_4cc86c6d-ac81-5b71-8991-a238f667ad81.html|title=Debra Magpie Earling honored as new head of UM creative writing|last=Szpaller|first=Keila|website=missoulian.com|date=21 September 2016 |language=en|access-date=2019-03-04}} She teaches Fiction and Native American Studies.

Works

=''Perma Red''=

Earling's first novel, Perma Red,{{Cite journal|last=Haladay|first=Jane|date=2006|title="It Just Seemed to Call to Me": Debra Magpie Earling's Self-Telling in Perma Red|journal=American Indian Culture and Research Journal|volume=30|issue=1|pages=53–65|doi=10.17953/aicr.30.1.53010624p0qx1l75|doi-broken-date=2024-11-19 |issn=0161-6463|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/14z4z333 }} takes place on the Flathead Indian Reservation in the 1940s. Louise White Elk, a determined and beautiful young woman, dreams of escaping and belonging. She comes of age as she is pursued by three dangerous men who will do anything to possess her—police officer Charlie Kicking Woman, the charismatic Baptiste, and Harvey Stoner, who owns nearly everything around him.

This novel won a Spur Award and Medicine Pipe Bearer Award for best first novel from the Western Writers Association, a WILLA Literary Award and the American Book Award.{{Cite web|url=https://elkriverbooks.com/an-evening-with-debra-magpie-earling/|title=An Evening with Debra Magpie Earling|last=Books|first=Elk River|date=27 February 2018 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-04}} Perma Red touches on the still prevalent crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women in Montana and throughout the West. A team of indigenous and women filmmakers are adapting Perma Red for TV.{{Cite web|url=https://missoulian.com/news/local/native-women-filmmakers-raising-funds-to-adapt-novel-perma-red/article_3706db9a-5627-5ffa-afeb-aca0ce887cec.html|title=Native, women filmmakers raising funds to adapt novel 'Perma Red' on indigenous women|last=Walsh|first=Cory|website=missoulian.com|date=9 September 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-03-04}} “Native women need to tell their own stories. Now is the time for those stories to rise. Perma Red is only the beginning," Earling is stated as saying on the fundraising page for the adaptation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/2402197|title=Perma Red: A TV Series Led by Indigenous People|website=Indiegogo|language=en|access-date=2019-03-04}}

=''The Lost Journals of Sacajewea''=

This work first began as a project during the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition and is the result of a five year collaboration between Debra Magpie Earling and artist Peter Koch.{{Cite web|url=http://booklyn.org/archive/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/1153|title=The Lost Journals of Sacajewea|website=Booklyn|access-date=2019-03-04|archive-date=2019-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306045508/http://booklyn.org/archive/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/1153|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.peterkochprinters.com/show.php?bookid=75|title=Peter Koch Catalogue {{!}} Printer|website=www.peterkochprinters.com|access-date=2020-03-02}} The writings are done by Earling, as Koch compiled the historical photographs. The writings, along with the photographs, hope to illustrate native women’s longstanding struggle and desire for freedom through Sacajewea.{{Cite web|url=http://www.darkmatterwomenwitnessing.com/issues/Nov2018/index.html|title=Dark Matter: Women Witnessing - Issue #3, December 2015|website=www.darkmatterwomenwitnessing.com|language=en|access-date=2019-03-04}}

=Anthologies=

{{cite book | title=The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology |editor=William Kittredge |editor2=Annick Smith | publisher=University of Washington Press | year=1991 | isbn=978-0-295-96974-9 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/lastbestplacem00kitt }}
{{cite book| title=Talking Leaves: Contemporary Native American Short Stories|editor=Craig Lesley |editor2=Katheryn Stavrakis| publisher=Delta| year= 1991| isbn= 978-0-385-31272-1 }}
{{cite book| title=Circle of Women: Anthology of Western Women Writers|editor=Kim Barnes |editor2=Mary Clearman Blew| publisher=University of Oklahoma Press| year= 2001| isbn= 978-0-8061-3367-6 }}
{{cite book| title=Wild women: contemporary short stories by women celebrating women| editor=Sue Thomas| publisher=Overlook Press| year= 1994| isbn= 978-0-87951-514-0 }}
{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P3IVCpEnQdwC|chapter=Bad Ways|title=Montana Women Writers: A Geography of the Heart|editor=Caroline Patterson|publisher=Farcountry Press|year=2006|isbn=978-1-56037-405-3|page=196|accessdate=2015-01-05}}
{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YM-LXI9dV3sC|chapter=Real Indians|title=The Best of Montana's Short Fiction|editor=Allen Morris Jones |editor2=William Kittredge|publisher=Globe Pequot|year=2004|isbn=978-1-59228-269-2|page=127|accessdate=2015-01-05}}
{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A5dij5BsgP4C|chapter=What We See|title=Lewis and Clark Through Indian Eyes|editor=Alvin M. Josephy|publisher=Random House, Inc.|year=2007|isbn=978-1-4000-7749-6|page=26|accessdate=2015-01-05}}

Awards

In January 2019, Perma Red was voted Montana's Best Loved Novel beloved by Montanans through “The Great Montana Read“ program, headed by Montana PBS and Montana Public Radio.{{Cite web|url=http://news.umt.edu/2019/2019/01/011519read.php|title=UM News|website=news.umt.edu|language=en|access-date=2019-03-04}}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
2007 Guggenheim Fellow{{Cite web|url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/3959-debra-magpie-earling|title=Debra Magpie Earling|work=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104024853/http://www.gf.org/fellows/3959-debra-magpie-earling|archivedate=2014-11-04|url-status=dead|accessdate=2014-11-04}}
2003 American Book Award
2003 WILLA Literary Award
2006 NEA grant{{Cite web|url=http://arts.gov/writers-corner/bio/debra-earling?id=06_42|title=Debra Earling|work=NEA|accessdate=2014-11-04|archive-date=2014-11-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104083634/http://arts.gov/writers-corner/bio/debra-earling?id=06_42|url-status=dead}}

Reviews

Debra Magpie Earling's debut novel Perma Red was well reviewed in January Magazine.{{cite magazine|url=http://januarymagazine.com/fiction/permared.html |title=Review | Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling |department=Stepping Forward |magazine=January Magazine |author=David Abrams |accessdate=2015-01-05}}