Silko's education included preschool through the fourth grade at Laguna BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) School and followed by Albuquerque Indian School (a private day school), the latter meant a day's drive by her father of 100 miles to avoid the boarding-school experience.

As a result, Silko has always identified most strongly with her Laguna ancestry, stating in an interview with Alan Velie, 'I am of mixed-breed ancestry, but what I know is Laguna'. Silko learned much of the traditional stories of the Laguna people from her grandmother, whom she called A'mooh, her aunt Susie, and her grandfather Hank during her early years. 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. Silko grew up on the edge of Pueblo society both literally – her family's house was at the edge of the Laguna Pueblo reservation – and figuratively, as she was not permitted to participate in various tribal rituals or join any of the Pueblo's religious societies. Leslie Marmon Silko was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Leland Howard Marmon, a noted photographer, and Mary Virginia Leslie, a teacher, and grew up on the Laguna Pueblo Indian reservation. ( December 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. At the same time, however, to be ' marginally mainstream' suggests that these texts continue to speak eloquently to Native audiences in meaningful ways.This section needs additional citations for verification. I identify factors that created a favorable reception for their works, and most importantly, I explore what it means for these authors to be 'marginally mainstream.' On the one hand, to be 'marginally mainstream' is to be deemed worthy of recognition by the critical establishment, which often entails overemphasizing 'universal' literary qualities to the detriment of tribally specific elements. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo), Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe), and Sherman Alexie (Spokane-Coeur d'Alene) as the four Native authors who have been most frequently singled out for attention and 'canonized' within mainstream American culture.

This chapter explains how particular Native writers in the US have come to serve as reference points and to receive widespread recognition, while others, equally worthy, have not.

Silko novel