These interviews showcase three Native writers in dialogue with a European critic who becomes their partner in exploring individual and tribal identity, cultural survival and exploitation, and writing techniques. From Hartwig Isernhagen's unique perspective, readers survey the growth of Native writing in the United States and Canada within the context of indigenous world literature.

All three writers responded to the same series of questions by their European interviewer. The dialogues show how three major figures assess the contribution of modernism, post-modernism, and the realist tradition to contemporary Native literature.