Book Club Conversation #4: Chris La Tray’s Becoming Little Shell

Name: Book Club Conversation #4: Chris La Tray’s Becoming Little Shell
Start: 2026-02-17T17:00:00-07:00
Location: Livingston Park County Public Library

Schedule

Tue, 17 Feb, 2026 at 05:00 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

Livingston Park County Public Library | Livingston, MT

In partnership with the Livingston-Park County Library, Elk River Arts and Lectures presents a community book club focused on former Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray’s Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home, winner of the Big Sky Award at the High Plains Book Festival.
This is the final book club conversation on February 17 at 5pm at the Livingston-Park County Public Library, 228 W. Callender St. Free and open to the public.
In an effort to remove hurdles to accessing books, Humanities Montana has purchased 700 audiobook listens of Becoming Little Shell which are available at MontanaLibrary2Go. The Livingston-Park County Library has twenty copies of Becoming Little Shell available for check-out.
About Becoming Little Shell:
Growing up in Montana, Chris La Tray always identified as Indian. Even though his father fiercely denied any connection, he found Indigenous people alluring, often recalling his grandmother’s consistent mention of their Chippewa heritage.
When La Tray attended his grandfather’s funeral as a young man, he finally found himself surrounded by relatives who obviously were Indigenous. “Who were they?” he wondered, and “Why was I never allowed to know them?” Combining diligent research and compelling conversations with authors, activists, elders, and historians, La Tray embarks on a journey into his family’s past, discovering along the way a larger story of the complicated history of Indigenous communities—as well as the devastating effects of colonialism that continue to ripple through surviving generations. And as he comes to embrace his full identity, he eventually seeks enrollment with the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, joining their 158-year-long struggle for federal recognition.
Both personal and historical, Becoming Little Shell is a testament to the power of storytelling, to family and legacy, and to finding home. Infused with candor, heart, wisdom, and an abiding love for a place and a people, Chris La Tray’s remarkable journey is both revelatory and redemptive.