Carter Meland is a writer of Irish, Norwegian, and White Earth Anishinaabe heritage. He takes writing seriously, but tries to do so with good humor. By day he teaches students in American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota-Duluth about the wicked smart, moving, and profound things that Native writers have to say about the world and by night he tries to rise to the standards they set. His novel, Stories for a Lost Child, invokes the waters of Lake Superior and the Mississippi River, and the deep woods voice of Misaabe (Bigfoot) to help his characters make sense of the problems they face in their lives. Stories for a Lost Child was a finalist for a 2018 Minnesota Book Award in the Novel and Short Story category.