James Welch Quotes

To receive this award from an organization I admire so much makes me totally happy and grateful.

The townspeople outside the reservations had a very superior attitude toward Indians, which was kind of funny, because they weren’t very wealthy; they were on the fringes of society themselves.

The economic piece is still missing, since it’s so hard to attract industry to reservations, but spiritually and educationally, they’re doing just fine. Each tribe has a community college now, and they teach the language, they teach the traditions.

Richard Hugo taught me that anyone with a desire to write, an ear for language and a bit of imagination could become a writer. He also, in a way, gave me permission to write about northern Montana.