Denise Lajimodiere is named North Dakota's first Native American poet laureate

Denise Lajimodiere speaks at the Minnesota Children's Book Festival in Red Wing, Minn., on Sept. 18, 2021. This week, Lajimodiere became the first Native American state poet laureate in North Dakota's history. (Chap Achen via AP)

North Dakota lawmakers have appointed a Chippewa woman as the state's poet laureate, making her the first Native American to hold this position in the state and increasing attention to her expertise on the troubled history of Native American boarding schools.

Denise Lajimodiere, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain band of Chippewa Indians in Belcourt, has written several award-winning books of poetry. She's considered a national expert on the history of Native American boarding schools and wrote an academic book called "Stringing Rosaries" in 2019 on the atrocities experienced by boarding school survivors.