[3] Sarris has authored six books, the best known of which is Grand Avenue, a collection of autobiographical short stories about contemporary Native American life.
Named after a real place in Santa Rosa's South Park district, Sarris was a co-executive producer of a two-part 1996 HBO miniseries adaptation, shot entirely on location.
At the age of 12, Sarris met Pomo basket weaver Mabel McKay, who taught him about American Indian customs and tradition.
[6] Greg Sarris’ mother, seventeen year old Mary Bernadette “Bunny” Hartman, of German, Jewish and Irish descent, came from a wealthy family.
It wasn't until the early 1980s as a graduate student at Stanford that Sarris learned that Emilio Arthur Hilario, of Filipino, Miwok and Pomo descent, was his biological father.
[18][non-primary source needed] Marilee Montgomery and Stop the Casino 101 Coalition dispute Sarris's claim to have Pomo and Miwok blood.