An Anishinabe poet and novelist, Gordon Henry, Jr. is an enrolled member of the White Earth Chippewa Tribe of Minnesota. His poetry has been published in anthologies such as Songs From This Earth On Turtle’s Back: Contemporary American Indian Poetry (1983) and Returning the Gift: Poetry and Prose from the First Native American Writers(1994). His novel The Light People (1994) was awarded The American Book Award in 1995. He has also co-authored the textbook The Ojibway (2004), to which he contributed a number of essays on Native American culture. Currently, Henry serves as the director of the creative writing program. He teaches courses in American literature, creative writing, and American Indian literature.