On Storied Ground- A Conversation with Sterling HolyWhiteMountain
October 24 @ 6:30pm
The Ivan Doig Center for the Study of the Lands and Peoples of the North American West, in partnership with Montana State University’s Native American Studies, English, and American Studies Departments, is pleased to announce author Sterling HolyWhiteMountain in conversation with Doig Center Director Daniel Grant as part of the Doig Center’s “Perspectives on the American West” speaker series.
The event, “On Storied Ground,” will take place on October 24th, 2025 from 6:30pm-8:00pm in the Great Hall of American Indian Hall at MSU with doors to open at 6:00pm. The event is free and open to the public, with a catered reception to follow.
Sterling HolyWhiteMountain is a Jones lecturer at Stanford University, where he formerly held a Stegner fellowship. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review, ESPN, High Country News and Montana Quarterly, among other places. He is an unrecognized citizen of the Blackfeet Nation.
This wide-ranging conversation will explore Native place-making in Montana, the relationship between fiction and history, literary craft, and Blackfeet identity–topics essential to understanding the storied ground we walk and our mutual obligations to one another and to the landscape.
The event will generate interest within and beyond MSU. Doig Center Director Daniel Grant said, “HolyWhiteMountain’s writing belongs in the company of great Native fiction writers Louise Erdrich, Tommy Orange, James Welch, and N. Scott Momaday, and is among the newest, most compelling voices shaping the contours of the literary American West today.” Department Head of Native American Studies Meredith Hecker said, “We are honored to welcome Sterling HolyWhiteMountain to MSU. His work challenges us to think deeply about identity, place, and the power of storytelling in Native communities. Events like this are amazing opportunities to help foster understanding and dialogue across cultures.”
For questions and inquiries, please contact Daniel Grant, Director of the Ivan Doig Center for the Study of the Lands & Peoples of the North American West (daniel.grant1@montana.edu).
