A tall, left-handed man of White Earth Anishinaabe heritage, Carter Meland takes writing seriously, but does so with good humor. His novel Stories For a Lost Child invokes the waters of Lake Superior and the Mississippi River, and the deep woods voice of Misaabe (Bigfoot) to help his characters make sense of the problems in their lives.
By day he teaches students in American Indian Studies at the U of MN about the wicked smart, moving, and profound things that Native writers have to say about the world and by night he tries to rise to the standards they set. Stories for a Lost Child was a finalist for the 2018 Minnesota Book Award.