Author, poet, and screenwriter Sherman Alexie was named one of The New Yorker's 20 top writers for the 21st century. The New York Times Book Review described him as "one of the major lyric voices of our time." Men's Journal has called him "the world's first fast-talking and wisecracking mediagenic American-Indian superstar."
He wrote and produced the film, Smoke Signals, based on his book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, which won the Audience Award and Filmmakers Trophy at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. In 2002 Alexie made his directorial debut with The Business of Fancydancing. On December 3, 2009, Alexie presented "The Business of Fancydancing" at UMass Amherst.
See Troy Lectures for more information on the English Department's Troy Lectures.