Lois Red Elk

Lois Red Elk is an enrolled member of the Ft. Peck Sioux in Montana, with roots from the Isanti on her mother’s side, and the Hunkpapa and Ihanktonwa from her father, who is descended from the Sitting Bull family. Raised in her traditional culture, she is a quill and bead worker, a traditional dancer and an advocate for cultural preservation and practice.
 
Her poems, prose, and children’s stories have been published in many magazines and anthologies. Her first book, Our Blood Remembers (Many Voices Press, 2011) won the Best Non-Fiction award from Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. Her latest book is Dragonfly Weather (Lost Horse Press, 2013).
 
During her earlier years living in Los Angeles, she was a TV talk show host, KCOP-TV, an FM radio host at Pasadena City College, and a technical advisor for many Hollywood film productions. She has been a member of Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists for 40 years while working for all the major networks and Hollywood studios in film and television. She has worked as a freelance writer for her tribe’s Native newspaper and authored a weekly column titled “Raised Dakota.”
 
She and her husband—who is enrolled in Shawnee, Oklahoma—have been married for over 40 years. She is currently on the adjunct faculty at Fort Peck Community College in Montana, where she teaches cultural arts courses.