James welch biography summary template

Native American writer and poet

James Phillip Welch Jr. (November 18, 1940 – August 4, 2003), who grew up within the Blackfeet and A'aninin cultures of his parents, was a Native Americannovelist and poet.^[1] He is considered a founding author of the Native American Renaissance.^[2] His novel Fools Crow (1986) received several national literary awards, and his debut novelWinter in the Blood (1974) was adapted as a film by the same name, released in 2013.

In 1997 Welch received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas.^[3]

Early life

James Welch was born in Browning, Montana on November 18, 1940. His father, James Phillip Welch Sr.

(June 3, 1914 – May 23, 2006), a welder and rancher, was a member of the Blackfeet tribe. His mother, Rosella Marie (née O'Bryan) Welch (December 14, 1914 – July 3, 2003), a stenographer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, was^[4] a member