Now (and always) is the time to read American Indian stories, especially after they have been controlled, denied, and silenced for too long. In an interview with Oprah Magazine, Vassar poet and professor Molly McGlennen (Anishinaabe) said, “I always think of Native literature as a gift to the world. Telling our own stories on our own terms is a political act. Native writers and artists allow non-Indigenous people to reckon with what’s been obfuscated from their consciousness. Whether you know it or not, you benefit from violence against Native peoples.”
I’m sharing here a list of fantastic literature for adults, including both fiction and nonfiction titles, that highlight Native stories. These stories are as diverse as the writers from which they come—please note the numerous Tribal Nations represented here, all with their own governance, cultures, languages, and storytelling traditions. Some of these books are humorous, some devastating, some lyrical, some thrilling. You’ll find classic novels like Linda Hogan’s Mean Spirit and James Welch’s Fools Crow alongside newer masterpieces like Tommy Orange’s There There and Natalie Diaz’s Pulitzer winning poetry collection Postcolonial Love Poem. Illustrated books make an appearance here, too, including Rena Priest’s Northwest Know How: Beaches and local writer and illustrator Emma Noyes’s Baby Speaks Salish. It’s worth noting that Rena Priest is our current Washington State Poet Laureate and Emma Noyes lives in Spokane.
The Beadworkers by Beth Piatote (Nez Perce, Chief Joseph Band, enrolled with the Colville Tribe)
Poet Warrior: A Memoir by Joy Harjo (Muscogee Nation (Este Mvskokvlke) and belongs to Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground) Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground): Check Out Book
The Round House by Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians): Check Out Book
White Magic: Essays by Elissa Washuta (Cowlitz Tribe)
Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss (Jim Thorpe was of the Sac and Fox Nation)
Calling for a Blanket Dance by Oscar Hokeah (Cherokee Nation, Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma)
Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling (Bitterroot Salish)
Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan (Chicksaw Nation)
Northwest Know How: Beaches by Rena Priest (Lummi Nation), Illustrated by Jake Stoumbus
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz (Mojave and an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian community)
Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s by Tiffany Midge (Hunkpapa Lakota, enrolled member Standing Rock Sioux)
There There by Tommy Orange (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma)
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (Blackfeet Nation)
Fools Crow by James Welch (Blackfeet Nation, Gros Ventre)
Baby Speaks Salish: A Language Manual Inspired by One Family’s Effort to Raise a Salish Speaker by Emma Noyes (Sinixt Band, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation)
