Greg Sarris

September 2026

Greg Sarris headshot

Greg Sarris is an enrolled member of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and is currently serving his seventeenth consecutive elected term as Chairman of the Tribe. He also serves as President of the Tribe’s Economic Development Board, overseeing all of the Tribe’s business interests, including the Graton Resort and Casino. Sarris received his BA in English from UCLA, and an MA in English and Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University, where he was awarded the Walter Gore Award for excellence in teaching. Formerly a full professor of English at UCLA, and then the Fletcher Jones Professor of Creative Writing and Literature at Loyola Marymount University, Greg holds the title of Distinguished Emeritus Graton Endowed Chair in Native American Studies at Sonoma State University. He is the author of several books including the award winning novel Grand Avenue which he adapted for an HBO miniseries and co-executive produced with Robert Redford. In addition to Grand Avenue, he published Watermelon Nights, and the biography of Mabel McKay entitled Weaving the Dream, along with other several other publications including a memoir, Becoming Story, and a collection of stories entitled The Forgetters. He is executive producer of I Am A Noise, a Joan Baez documentary film. He served on the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Board which he served two years as Chair. Governor Newsom appointed Greg to the UC Regents and currently chairs the Academic Student Affairs Committee and is now serving on the Sundance Institute Board of Trustees. His new novel entitled The Last Human Bear was published on June 16, 2026.