Sherman Alexie

"The primal need for stories is the most important thing in anybody’s life… we’re all still children being read to.”  Over an astonishing 26 books in 25 years, Sherman Alexie has devoted himself to what he calls the “sacred” task of telling the truth through stories.  In this episode of the podcast, Miwa Messer talks with Alexie about his new memoir You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, a viscerally funny, tragic, and honest rendering of the author's childhood, his mother Lillian’s life, and the way her outsized persona shaped the storytelling wizard her son would become.