I just was like, I don't ever want to be around this guy again. It's not working, and eventually I say, because I am kind of scared of this situation, 'I'm a virgin.' But it got really weird, because then he's still trying to work me over, and I'm just stock still, and I think at that point, in my opinion, he realized that if he wanted to have sex with me he would have to violate me, he'd have to rape me. 'And I'm kind of like stock still, trying to convince myself this is OK. 'He's kind of taking my clothes off and kissing me,' she remembers. I had almost no sexual experience, I couldn't believe it. After chatting in the lobby, she started to leave, 'and he jumps over the coffee table and begins trying to kiss me,' she says. She went, and afterward walked back to his hotel with him. About a year after their first meeting, he suggested she come to one of his readings in Colorado. As a Native American, he was a hero to her, and she hoped he might become a mentor. And so then when I discover that interest is actually physical, it just felt very wrong.'Įrika Wurth was a 22-year-old aspiring writer when she first met Alexie. 'And he's connected to the organization I work for, and if he had never expressed an interest in my poems I probably wouldn't have pursued spending any time with him,' Walker says.

She says Alexie is a big deal in her hometown of Seattle. She sent him her poems again, but never got anything but a quick comment and a promise of more to come. And so then when I discover that interest is actually physical, it just felt very wrong.Īlexie later apologized, and Walker says she stayed in touch with him for a while. if he had never expressed an interest in my poems I probably wouldn't have pursued spending any time with him. Afterward, Alexie said he had checked out her poetry online and asked her to send him a manuscript. She's a poet and teacher who was managing a Writers in the Schools program in Seattle when she arranged to have Alexie visit a classroom. 'Of course, I was really excited, I mean, Sherman Alexie, he's interested in my poems,' Walker says. The women said Alexie had traded on his literary celebrity to lure them into uncomfortable sexual situations. Most of the women wanted to remain anonymous, but a clear pattern emerged: The women reported behavior ranging from inappropriate comments both in private and in public, to flirting that veered suddenly into sexual territory, unwanted sexual advances and consensual sexual relations that ended abruptly. In all, 10 women spoke to NPR about Alexie, who is a married man. 'It's a story about power, and abuse of power,' says Jeanine Walker, one of three women who came forward on the record, and whose stories NPR has corroborated with several sources. National Women Are Speaking Up About Harassment And Abuse, But Why Now? Those writers are left utterly devastated.'

'If you are an aspiring author,' Ursu says, 'and you go to a reading of someone who is famous and beloved and whose work you admire, and he suddenly takes an interest in you and your work, and he thinks you're special, and you start emailing, and he wants to mentor you - and then suddenly it turns out all he wanted to do is have sex with you. Ursu says some of the most popular kids book writers used the power of their celebrity to seduce women. Ursu's story, which she published in February on the website Medium, contributed to the whisper of sexual scandal that was already building around some well-known authors - including Alexie. After the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment story broke, Ursu decided to survey women in the children's book business to see if they had experienced such problems - just as many media companies, including NPR, have. In those circles, 'well, he's a rock star,' says children's book author Anne Ursu. Those writers are left utterly devastated. and then suddenly it turns out all he wanted to do is have sex with you. and he suddenly takes an interest in you and your work. If you are an aspiring author and you go to a reading of someone who is famous and beloved.

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