Hailing from Nevada, Louis was a member of Lovelock Paiute tribe who lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
[2][3] He also published books of poetry and a collection of short stories, Wild Indians and Other Creatures (1996).
[6] Louis graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor's and MA in Creative Writing.
Later in the 1980s, he was publisher and managing editor of the Lakota Times (later renamed Indian Country Today).
His work has been praised by notable Native American writers, including Sherman Alexie, N. Scott Momaday, James Welch and Leslie Marmon Silko.