25 Best Books by Native American Authors to Add to Your Bookshelf
Right this way for the greatest contemporary literature from Indigenous Americans.
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Just like every culture there is, Indigenous American authors aren't a monolith and neither are they the books they write. Even the appropriate language we use to describe them can differ depending on who we're talking about and their preference. While many of us in the United States refer to Native people as Native American, the National Museum of the American Indian advises us to use the individual tribal name, when possible. Native American is the most common term (and as such, is the one we use here), but many Native people prefer the terms American Indian or Indigenous American. Language is ever-evolving, so when in doubt, ask which term someone uses for themselves.
If you're looking for an excuse to go book shopping, Native American Heritage Month in November is the perfect time to pick up a few of these fantastic books by Native American and Indigenous authors. Also known as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, it's a chance to celebrate the rich and diverse cultures, traditions and histories and important contributions of Native people. It's also an opportunity to raise awareness about the unique challenges the population has faced both throughout history and today.
But don't worry; this isn't supposed to be homework. The following aren't educational books, nor do they attempt to capture the entirety of complex, complicated cultures. They're just great books, period, that happen to be written by Native and Indigenous writers. When you're done here, give our feel-good book club a try, because we can always use another addition to our TBR pile.
Kit, a young Cherokee girl, gets torn away from what's left of her family and sent to a Christian boarding school just when she's most vulnerable. There, she suffers horrifying abuse but finds solace in her journal, where she records what happens to her and what she remembers about her past. It's a historical reckoning with a hint of mystery that keeps the plot past-your-bedtime propulsive.
As Hurricane Katrina gathers over the gulf, so do the tensions in a family that's already struggling in poverty. Try to remember to breathe as the story rushes towards its dramatic conclusion. While every book Jesmyn Ward writes is a triumph, this searing National Book Award is a great place to start if you're not familiar with her work.
Most histories of our country are told from the white colonizers' perspectives, just like almost all historical accounts comes from the point of view of the winners. In this beautiful book, we learn about the lives, fates, hopes and dreams of the Native people instead.
Lose yourself in the generational story of Rosalie Iron Wing, who grew up immersed in the stories of her Dakhóta people until her father dies and she's sent to live with a foster family. Decades later, Rosalie is a widow and mother who returns to her childhood home to grieve what she's lost and rediscover the strengths of her ancestors.
This poignant and moving book follows three generations of Native women and their treasured dolls: Cora, born in 1888 and shipped off to a brutal boarding school to be "civilized;" Lillian, born in 1925, who endures unspeakable horrors inflicted on her by the nuns running the "Indian school" she attends; and Sissy, born in 1961, whose mother's unpredictable anger and mercurial moods keeps her on the edge of danger. Told through alternating perspectives and by turns touching, heartbreaking and even a little scary, this book reminds us of the importance of family and history.
Traumatized by their years at a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie cling to each other when they're finally released as teens and find themselves in East Vancouver, trying to figure out what to do next. Their paths are, by turns, dangerous, frightening and secretive in this touching story about coming to terms with a past you didn't deserve and creating a future you do.
Never Whistle at Night edited by by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
Ghosts, monsters and things that go bump in the night abound in this spooktacular collection of scary stories from Indigenous and Native authors. Whatever your preferred flavor of scariness, there’s a story here that will keep you awake long after you’ve turned off the lights.
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This big-hearted novel tells the stories of Justine―a mixed-blood Cherokee woman― and her daughter, Reney, after Justine's father abandons them and they seek a better life in 1980s oil-boom Texas. What awaits them is a world that wants to strip them of their culture and their will to survive, coming from both natural and human-driven forces.
Get ready for spooky season with this new novel about the importance of family, what it means to be haunted and how our past informs our future. Oh, and there's lots of heavy metal, dive bars and scenes so gritty, you can feel them between your back teeth. Crack open a cold one, pull on a well-worn band T-shirt and get ready for some spine tingles.
These searing, devastating and often darkly funny stories introduce us to a community of Native people living on a Maine Penobscot reservation. There's family tragedy, battling drug dependency and poverty, but we also meet plucky children, adults who survive against all odds and an abiding, affecting love.
Memoir fans, look no further than this beautiful elegy for the author's lost parents that explores trauma, family and a fresh perspective on memory and how much of it we can really trust. It's not a light read, but it is an important one.
After Luz's brother is run out of town by a violent white mob, she's left to navigate 1930s Denver by herself. But before long, she begins to see visions of her ancestors and their lives in the nearby Lost Territory, bearing witness to their struggle, perseverance and how important it is to ensure those stories don't die with her.
History buffs won't want to miss this one. It's a balance of memoir and reportage that spans the history of Native American people's rich and varied cultures from first contact with white settlers, and how degradations like land seizures, massacres, forced assimilation and more gave rise to uniquely powerful means of survival.
Grab a highlighter, because you're going to want to remember just about every line of Pico's powerful poetry. A multiple-award winning writer, Pico grew up in the Viejas Reservation, near San Diego and writes stirring lines about his intersecting identities as a queer, American Indian, urban-dwelling poet.
In this unforgettable book, 12 characters converge at the Big Oakland Powwow as the story speeds toward its shocking conclusion. There's newly sober Jacquie Red Feather, Dene Oxendene, who works at the powwow to honor his uncle’s memory, Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield, who's going to watch her nephew perform a traditional Indian dance for the very first time, and so many more.
You may have noticed that the witchy aesthetic is having a moment, with tarot readings, sage burning and crystals featuring prominently on social media. But these ancient tools of the occult are so much more than that. In this series of braided essays, Washuta explores her own cultural context as she finds her way through addiction and mental health struggles to become a powerful witch in her own right.
Steeped in Cherokee myths and legends, this story of family members trying to live through the grief of losing one of their own to a police shooting will stick with you like a stubborn ghost. It's a little creepy, very arresting and deeply grounded in the real dangers people face every day.
Slasher movie fans will love following Jade, a half-Native American loner who relies on her expert-level knowledge of slasher films to make sense of the world. When people start disappearing from the gentrifying town of Proofrock where she lives, her skills might help her keep her safe. Then again, maybe she already knows too much.
This transcendent memoir by U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo details her coming-of-age as the daughter of an abusive father, an imaginative girl who takes solace in poetry, the natural world and the arts. As she grows older and becomes a single mother, she eventually finds her voice and her place in the world.
Even though it's technically for young adults, this World War II novel will resonate with older readers too. It's all about Code Talkers, the Navajo people who carried messages for U.S. troops in their native language. It's an important historical period, captured in gripping prose.
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