She also meets Michael Dorris, her future husband, here. Erdrich enrolls at John Hopkins University. Erdrich receives an M.F.A. degree from John Hopkins University. She becomes the Editor of the Boston Indian Council's newspaper, The Circle. She also writes her first book, Imagination. 1981.
Imagination is published.
Erdrich and Dorris marry. Erdrich wins the National Book Critics Circle Award for the Best Work of Fiction. Erdrich's collection of poetry, Jacklight, and first novel, Love Medicine, are published. Erdrich receives the John Simon Guggenheim Award. She is also awarded the Los Angeles Times prize for fiction.