Sherman alexie was born on October 7th 1966, in Spokane Indian tribe Reservation residing in Washington. Sherman was born with a brain defect called “hydrocephalic” and underwent a brain surgery at the age of 6 months old. Though doctors expected him not to live through the procedure, Sherman recovered and survived to be a very intelligent child but at the cost of having repeated moments of  “seizures and bed-wetting”. When he was young Sherman loved to read and was influenced by writers as a child, when he was five years old he was inspired by Steinbeck. Sherman attended a school off his reservation at the age of 14, where he would be bullied by his peers because he was “interested in education.” Though this was a harsh time in his life he used many of his bullied experiences in his writings, as well as “focusing on the harshness of reservation life.” Sherman continued on with his education at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington in 1985 where he gained a scholarship. He would later transfer to Washington State University residing in Pullman, where he would focus and complete his degree on American Studies and start his writing career. In college Sherman would start to take influences from Native American writers such as Adrian Louis which helped in getting over his alcoholism addiction at the age of 23. 

Sherman would start his consistency of writing at the age of 19 while attending college, he started off in college as wanting to be a doctor but changed his mindset after “he kept fainting during human anatomy class.” Sherman's writing consisted of “novels…, short stories, poems, and screenplays” in which many were given the PEN/Hemingway award, consisting of his short stories “Lone Ranger” and “Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.” Throughout the beginning of his career, Sherman's work would primarily talk about the themes of gender along with the comparison of urban life and reservation life experiences. As well as work through many different genres allowing him to gain the interest of many readers. He started his career by first writing poetry, then later moved onto short stories, but kept progressing and started writing long type fiction books. He would later on create screenplays based on his stories that consists of documentaries on topics he experienced throughout his life. Sherman is recognised as a voice for young readers and American literature in general. 

As Sherman began to grow up he started to write more and more, he eventually got to a point where he would write daily. Sherman's life consists of many ups and downs throughout his career and uses both of them to continue doing what he loves. Sherman has a big alcohol addiction, and his alcoholism would keep resurfacing throughout his career and his life in general. Sherman's parents when he was young would struggle with alcoholism, this experience along with people teasing him and his health challenges, contributed to a hard life growing up which could influence an alcohol addiction. Sherman's life as an adult isn't just full of downward slopes though, Sherman lives in Washington even as an adult still, he lives there with his wife named Diane who is also from an Indian tribe, and his two kids. Sherman has many accomplishments as an adult, he has been recognized by the “Granta Magazine” as one of the top twenty writers in America, and has won the “Christopher Award” for his film called “Smoke Signals.” And has gained himself “several honorary degrees.” Even with these awards he has been considered a controversial writer due to his style of writing and people's belief of him mocking certain demographics.

Sherman has many famous writings, which gain much recognition and awards. Alexie's most famous novels consist of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” published in 2007 which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is objectively Sherman's most famous book. To continue, Alexie's novel “Reservation Blues” published in 1995 had won the Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award. But Sherman's novels aren't the only thing getting awards, Sherman himself has gained many awards for being the writer he is. For example, Sherman has won the “Stranger Genius Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, a Pushcart Prize, and The PEN/Malamud Award. Alexie is also known for his famous poetry, like “Face” published in 2009, “First Indian on the Moon” published in 1993, and “Fancydancing” published in 1992, along with many others. Alexie uses these short stories, poetry, novels, and screenplay in order to show his point of view in the world as a Native American to the readers who may not understand the difference. With Sherman taking a break from writing from 2018 and as of 2025, his audience can only wonder if or what he will write next.