Chris La Tray to Speak at Museum Depot Theater in Dillon

DILLON, Mont. — Award-winning author, poet, and storyteller Chris La Tray will be featured at a special literary event on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, at the Museum Depot Theater, located at 125 South Montana Street.

Doors will open at 6:00 p.m., with the program beginning at 6:30 p.m. The event is open to the public.

La Tray is an Anishinaabe/Métis storyteller, a descendant of the Pembina Band of the Red River of the North, and a citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. He is the author of several acclaimed works, including his most recent book, Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home, published by Milkweed Editions in August 2024.

His earlier work, One-Sentence Journal: Short Poems and Essays from the World at Large (2018), earned the Montana Book Award and a High Plains Book Award, while his 2021 poetry collection, Descended from a Travel-worn Satchel, further cemented his reputation as a leading literary voice in the region.

La Tray served as the 11th Montana Poet Laureate from August 2023 through August 2025 and was the 2025 Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Montana. He also received the 2025 Montana Heritage Keeper Award from the Montana Historical Society. In addition to his writing, La Tray has facilitated workshops with numerous organizations, including The Missoula Writing Collaborative, Yellowstone Forever, Freeflow Institute, Writing the Wild, Orion, and Torrey House Press.

Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home has been selected as the current statewide read for One Book Montana, which is being relaunched by Humanities Montana in partnership with libraries across the state. The program highlights the 2025 Great Reads from Great Places authors and runs from October 1, 2025, through February 28, 2026, inviting Montanans to read and discuss the book.

Copies of Becoming Little Shell are available for purchase or checkout at The Bookstore and the Dillon Public Library.

The event is sponsored by the Dillon Public Library, the Dillon Friends of the Library, The Bookstore, and the Beaverhead County Museum.