Mark Turcotte

Mark Turcotte grew up in North Dakota on the Turtle Mountain Reservation and, later, in Lansing, Michigan. An enrolled member of the Anishinaabe–Turtle Mountain Band, Turcotte is the author of four books of poetry, including Exploding Chippewas (NU Press, 2002). He is the winner of the first Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Award, and the Wisconsin Arts Board named him a literary fellow in 1999 and 2003. He lives and works in Chicago. In 2025, Turcotte was appointed the poet laureate of Illinois.