Mark Diedrich is an author, researcher, lecturer, publisher, artist and musician. He began writing about Native American in the late 1970s and by 1986 started his own publishing company, Coyote Books. He rapidly published the following books regarding the history of and leadership of the Dakota, Ho-Chunk, and Ojibway tribes: 1) The Chiefs Hole-in-the-Day of the Mississippi Chippewa, 2) Famous Chiefs of the Eastern Sioux (now revised as, Famous Dakota Chiefs),3) The Odyssey of Chief Standing Buffalo and the Northern Sisseton Sioux,4) Dakota Oratory, 5) Ojibway Oratory, 6) Winnebago Oratory, 7) Old Betsey: The Life and Times of a Famous Dakota Woman and Her Family, 8) Ojibway Chiefs, 9) Sitting Bull: The Collected Speeches, and 9) Ho-Chunk Chiefs. More Recently he published 10) The Chiefs Wapahasha, 11) Little Crow and the Dakota War, and 12) Mni Waken Oyate (Spirit Lake Nation), 13) Little Fish, 14) Ignatius Court, and 15) Little Paul. He is also finishing up a work of historical fiction on the first Wapahasha. Most of these books feature Mark's pencil sketch portraits.
In addition to books, Mark has also had a number of articles published in Minnesota History and Ramsey County History, all on American Indian themes. In 2000 he was invited to write eight short biographies of Dakota leaders for the American National Biography encyclopedia, published by Oxford University Press. Mark was also an advisor for a KTCA documentary on the "Dakota Exile," and was the writer of the Mni Wakan Oyate documentary, published by Cankdeska Cikana Community College of Fort Totten.
Mark has given quite a number of lectures on Dakota history in Minnesota and Wisconsin. And in 1995 Dr. Herbert Hoover, professor of history at South Dakota State, said that Mark was one of the half-dozen people who are knowledgeable of Dakota-white relations during the 1800's.
Musically, Mark sings, plays guitar and harmonica, and has written hundreds of songs. He worked in many coffeehouses and restaurants through the years 1995 through 2005 in southeastern Minnesota. He has recorded many Song tapes over the years, and two recent CDs. Airplay of his music in 2001 on country music stations around the world, placed him on the most-played independent charts.
