Michael Wasson

Michael Wasson (born 1990) is an American Nimíipuu poet from the town of Lenore, Idaho on the Nez Perce Reservation.

[1] Michael Wasson grew up on the Nez Perce reservation in Idaho, and recalls that landscape, his elders, and their stories and language as having a formative impact on his writing.

[2] He earned his BA studying literature, creative writing and his indigenous Nez Perce language, Nimipuutímt, at Lewis-Clark State College[3] and an MFA in creative writing from Oregon State University while teaching writing courses.

[6] His first book, This American Ghost, ranges across topics from classical Greek literature to the violence done by Christianity and colonialism to the cultural experiences of Nez Perce people.

[7] Wasson is the recipient of a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation National Artist Fellowship in Literature, the Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry, the Vinyl 45 Chapbook Prize, and the Joyce Carol Oates Commencement Award in Poetry.