When I was researching the destruction of Kettle Falls for my novel The Cassandra, I came across a HistoryLink article by local writers Claire Nisbet and Jack Nisbet about a Syilx and Sinixt writer named Mourning Dove (Christine Quintasket). I was surprised I’d never heard of her—she’d lived in East Omak, right next to my mother’s hometown of Okanogan, Washington, and she’d been an influential literary figure around the Inland Northwest. I’ve studied literature here in the Northwest for decades, but Mourning Dove’s work had never appeared in any syllabus or classroom discussion, nor materialized in any of the bookstores or libraries I’d worked at over the years, despite her regional popularity during her lifetime. Her story has reminded me, as I’m frequently reminded, of archival silence, of erasure. Whose stories get to be told, and whose stories are disappeared—historically, presently, and in the future?
Mourning Dove was a contemporary of Zora Neale Hurston’s—both of them ethnographers, folklorists, and novelists—and is widely considered to have penned the first published novel by a Native woman, Co-Ge-We-A, the Half-Blood. She died at Medical Lake’s Eastern State Hospital, having succumbed, in her own words, to a ‘nervous disposition.’ A 1936 obituary in The Spokesman Review quoted Spokane Tribal member Mary Lloyd as saying, “Her death is a shock to Spokane. The Northwest has lost a most valuable citizen.”
I was overjoyed to learn we have original first edition works of Mourning Dove’s retellings of tribal folklore here in the Inland Northwest Special Collections (INSC). The first is Coyote Stories, published in 1933 by a Caldwell, Idaho press. It collects the narrated stories of her people in a lovely, illustrated hardcover, with a foreword written by Chief Standing Bear. The other is Tales of the Okanogans, ed. posthumously and published in Fairfield, Washington with striking artwork from Harvey West. These books are rare and don’t circulate outside of our shelves, but you can come enjoy them in the beautiful INSC research room on the 3rd Floor of the Central Library.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is October 13. While Columbus Day (*wince*) remains the official federal holiday (despite Biden’s Presidential Proclamation), Washinton State and the City of Spokane both observe IDP as an annual celebration on the 2nd Monday of October. Not all States honor our Native communities in this way—fortunately we live in a place that does.
Please feel free to come visit us in the INSC to peruse Mourning Dove’s titles in person (as staffing allows, we’re open in the INSC from 10AM-4 PM, Monday through Friday). For more information on how you can support local Native communities, check out American Indian Community Center, Spectrum Center Spokane, The Salish School of Spokane, The Spokane Tribe of Indians, The Coeur d’ALene Tribe of Indians, The Kalispel Tribe of Indians, The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indians, The Native Project, and Elk Soup to get started.
Here is a booklist to help celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day:
Young Readers
Contenders: Two Native Baseball Players, One World Series by Traci Sorell
The Song that Called Them Home by David A Robertson, illustrated by Maya McKibbin
What Your Ribbon Skirt Means to Me: Deb Haaland’s Historic Inauguration by Alexis Bunten, illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt
Deb Haaland by Laurel Goodluck
Grandma’s Tipi: A Present-Day Lakota Story by S.D. Nelson
To Walk the Sky by Patricia Morris Buckley
Kaho’olawe: The True Story of an Island and Her People by Kamalani Hurley, illustrated by Karinani Orme
Teens & Young Adult
Legendary Frybread Drive-in by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley
Indigenous Ingenuity: A Celebration of Traditional North American Knowledge by Deidre Havrelock and Edward Kay
Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur
Our Way—A Parallel History: An Anthology of Native History Reflection and Story by Various Authors
Indigenous Firsts: A History of Native American Achievements and Events by Yvonne Wakim Dennis, Arlene B. Hirschfelder, and Paulette Fairbanks Molin
Adults
Small Ceremonies by Kyle Edwards
Malinalli by Veronica Chapa
Waiting for the Long Night Moon by Amanda Peters
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmasking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk
God Is Red: A Native View of Religion by Vine Deloria
Talking with Hands: Everything You Need to Start Signing Native American Hand Talk a Complete Beginner’s Guide with Over 200 Words and Phrases by Mike Pahsetopah
Birding While Indian: A Mixed-Blood Memoir by Thomas C. Gannon
The Lost Journals of Sacajewea: A Novel by Debra Magpie Earling
Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home by Chris La Tray
The Seed Keeper: A Novel by Diane Wilson
Wandering Stars: A Novel by Tommy Orange
The Mighty Red: A Novel by Louise Erdrich
Bitterroot: a Salish memoir of transracial adoption by Susan Devan Harness
Blog content reposted from 2024 but updated to include new titles as of 2025!
