28 New Books by Indigenous Authors to Celebrate Native American Heritage MonthLike this list

28 items

• When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky

  Verble, Margaret,

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  Set in 1926 Nashville, this story follows a death-defying young Cherokee horse-diver who, with her companions from the Glendale Park Zoo, must get to the bottom of a mystery that spans centuries. Said to be Louise Erdrich meets Karen…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Winter Counts

  a Novel

  Weiden, David Heska Wanbli, 1963-

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  This gritty crime novel features a vigilante enforcer on South Dakota's Rosebud Indian Reservation who enlists the help of an ex to investigate the activities of an expanding drug cartel, while a new tribal council initiative raises…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Poet Warrior

  a Memoir

  Harjo, Joy,

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  Harjo, a member of the Muscogee Nation (Este Mvskokvlke), is a three-term U.S. Poet Laureate, the first Indigenous person to hold that honor. "Joy Harjo offers a vivid, lyrical, and inspiring call for love and justice in this contemplation…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Sentence

  a Novel

  Erdrich, Louise,

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  Celebrated author Erdrich sets a ghost story at her real-life Minneapolis bookstore, Birchbark Books, over the course of a year encompassing most of 2020 as COVID sets in, the killing of George Floyd causes the city to erupt in protests,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Sabrina & Corina

  Stories

  Fajardo-Anstine, Kali,

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  "Latinas of Indigenous descent living in the American West take center stage in this haunting debut story collection—a powerful meditation on friendship, mothers and daughters, and the deep-rooted truths of our homelands." -Publisher

• The Removed

  a Novel

  Hobson, Brandon,

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  "Since the death of teenage son Ray-Ray, the Echota family staggers along, with Maria tending her Alzheimer's-afflicted husband as daughter Sonya veers between obsession and withdrawal and runaway son Edgar turns to drugs. With the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Five Little Indians

  Good, Michelle,

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  "With compassion and insight, Five Little Indians chronicles the desperate quest of these residential school survivors to come to terms with their past and, ultimately, find a way forward." -Publisher. Michelle Good is a member of the Red…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• It Was Never Going to Be Okay

  simpson, jaye,

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  This poetry collection from simpson won the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Poetry, and explores the intersection of indegeneity and queerness (the author is a trans woman) as well as intergenerational trauma.

• A History of My Brief Body

  Belcourt, Billy-Ray,

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  Part memoir, part essay collection, this work from poet Belcourt, a member of the Driftpile Cree Nation, ranges from thoughts on colonialism to remembrances of the author's grandmother to his experiences as a queer NDN. Kirkus writes, "At…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Black Water

  Family, Legacy, and Blood Memory

  Robertson, David, 1977-

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  "In this bestselling memoir, a son who grew up away from his Indigenous culture takes his Cree father on a trip to the family trapline and finds that revisiting the past not only heals old wounds but creates a new future." -Publisher

• Empire of Wild

  a Novel

  Dimaline, Cherie, 1975-

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  Inspired by the Canadian Métis legend of the Rogarou, a woman reconnects with her heritage when her missing husband reappears in the form of a charismatic preacher who does not recognize her. Publishers Weekly writes, "The novel is at…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Crooked Hallelujah

  Ford, Kelli Jo,

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  This collection of interconnected short stories traces four generations of Native American women as they navigate cultural dynamics, religious beliefs, the 1980s oil bust, devastating storms, and unreliable men to connect with their ideas…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mamaskatch

  a Cree Coming of Age

  McLeod, Darrel J.,

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  In his debut memoir, McLeod writes about his tumultuous childhood and the impact of intergenerational traumas on him and his family. Kirkus writes, "Lyrically written and linked by family, compassion, forgiveness, and hope, Mamaskatch…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Only Good Indians

  a Novel

  Jones, Stephen Graham, 1972-

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  An elk spirit stalks four men who hunted on tribal lands reserved for their elders in this “tale of revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition in this latest novel from the Jordan Peele of horror literature”…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Shapes of Native Nonfiction

  Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers

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  This collection of 27 critical essays challenges non-Native assumptions about what "native nonfiction" is and can be. "These writers push, pull and break the conventional essay structure to overhaul the dominant cultural narrative that…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Beadworkers

  Piatote, Beth H., 1966-

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  "In this eloquent and elucidating debut story collection [Piatote] brings the Native experience to life—from the long line of broken treaties and the tragic effect on Native tribes from coast to coast to contemporary repercussions from…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee

  Native America From 1890 to the Present

  Treuer, David,

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  Challenging the assertion made by Dee Brown in the 1970 bestseller Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee that "the culture and civilization of the American Indian was destroyed" between 1860 and 1890, Treuer, a Leech Lake Reservation Ojibwe…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Earth Keeper

  Reflections on the American Land

  Momaday, N. Scott, 1934-2024

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  "A beautifully written and poignant tribute to the Earth, from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet N. Scott Momaday." -Publisher. Momaday is a member of the Kiowa tribe who was born and grew up on Indian reservations throughout the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Come Home, Indio

  a Memoir

  Terry, Jim (Artist),

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  This graphic memoir from cartoonist Jim Terry describes his upbringing caught between the cultures of his Irish American father and his Ho-Chunk mother, his struggles with alcoholism, and his spiritual awakening at Standing Rock.

• Love After the End

  An Anthology of Two-spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction

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  "This exciting and groundbreaking fiction anthology showcases a number of new and emerging 2SQ (Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous) writers from across Turtle Island. These visionary authors show how queer Indigenous communities can bloom and…Read moreRead more of this annotation