Jim Northrup, an Ojibwe storyteller whose books, plays and poems were widely published and produced, died of complications of cancer Monday night. He was 73.

Northrup embraced his Anishinaabe language and heritage and helped non-Indians understand it through his plays, including a one-man show, “Rez Road 2000,” produced in 2000 at the Great American History Theatre in St. Paul, and his books, including “Walking the Rez Road,” “Rez Road Follies,” “Anishinaabe Syndicated: A View from the Rez,” “Dirty Copper” and “Rez Salute: the Real Healer Dealer.”

His books and plays contained sometimes ribald stories from his life and from Indian lore, including ones about shape-shifters such as the legendary half-man, half-god creature variously called Wenaboozhoo and Nanabush.

Northrup had been ill with kidney cancer, which he attributed to exposure to Agent Orange during his time in-country in the Vietnam War. He was born on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Sawyer, Minn., south of Cloquet, and considered it his home until his death.