Darren Renville is a Dakota/Nakota (Assinboine)/ A'aninin (Gros Ventre) writer and scholar, and a citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, based on the Lake Traverse Reservation in northeastern South Dakota. He considers himself primarily a novelist, but he's written a range of different articles for publications such as Ikce Wicasta, a magazine devoted to Dakota and Nakota tribal life and culture, and contributed writing to the documentary Dakota Exile. His first major publication was in Song of the Turtle: American Indian Literature 1974-1994. He was a 2007 Bush Foundation artist fellow for literature, and his work was featured in the 2009 Mixed Blood Theatre production, "Red Ink." He has also lectured widely on the subject of Native Americans in film and media. He completed a Masters of Legal Studies in Indigenous Peoples Law at the University of Oklahoma, Norman in 2021.