Storyteller Silko was a debut recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Grant in She wrote that her paternal grandmother, who was born in Montana , had a father whose family was "part Plains Indian" but that her grandmother "never knew" which tribe she was descended from, and that her grandmother's father was "half German" with an "Indian" mother.
She also wrote that her maternal grandmother was part Cherokee "through her Grandfather Wood" who was from Kentucky. Silko grew up on the edge of Laguna Pueblo society both literally β her family's house was at the edge of the Laguna Pueblo reservation β but was not able to participate in some of the rituals because of the distance of their home.
She is not an enrolled citizen of the Laguna Pueblo. According to Silko, the core theme of her writing is an attempt to make sense of what it means to be "neither white nor fully traditionally Indian. While her parents worked, Silko and her two sisters were cared for by their grandmother, Lillie Stagner, and great-grandmother, Helen Romero, both story-tellers. As a result, Silko has always identified most strongly with her Laguna heritage, stating in an interview with Alan Velie, "I am of mixed-breed ancestry, but what I know is Laguna".
Silko's education included preschool through the fifth grade at Laguna BIA Bureau of Indian Affairs School and followed by a Catholic school, the latter meant a day's drive by her father of miles to avoid the boarding-school experience. The story continues to be included in anthologies. During the years to , Silko wrote and published many short stories and poems that were featured in her Laguna Woman Silko wrote a screenplay based on the comic book Honkytonk Sue , in collaboration with novelist Larry McMurtry , which has not been produced.
Throughout her career as a writer and teacher, she has remained grounded in the history-filled landscape of the Laguna Pueblo. Her experiences in the culture have fueled an interest to preserve cultural traditions and understand the impact of the past on contemporary life.
