INDIGENOUS BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
As an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma living on Narragansett land in Rhode Island, Vanessa is a strong advocate for Indigenous peoples. To support Indigenous authors and booksellers, Vanessa uses her platform to amplify their voices.
Below is Vanessa’s running list of must-read books by Indigenous authors, including stories that span fiction, non-fiction, poetry, young adult literature, and picture books.
Fiction
Lizards Hold the Sun by Dani Trujillo
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
Warrior Girl by Angeline Boulley
Buffalo is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice
God Isn’t Here Today by Francine Cunningham
The Grass Dancer by Mona Susan Power
Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers
The Peacekeeper by B. L. Blanchard
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
An Ordinary Violence by Adriana Chartrand
Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
A Calm & Normal Heart by Chelsea T. Hicks
To Shape A Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
Betty by Tiffany McDavid
Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina
The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories by Stacie Shannon Denetsosie
Never Name the Dead by D.M. Rowell
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford
The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava
White Horse by Erika T. Wurth
Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel
Havoc by Deborah J. Ledford
Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead
Hearts Unbroken by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Buffalo is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel
This Town Sleeps by Dennis E. Staples
Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina
A Season in Chezgh’un by Darrel J. McLeod
Ghost Lake by Nathan Niihau Noodin Adler
Mask of the Deer Woman by Laurie L. Dove
Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris
On the Saage Side by Tiffany McDaniel
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Tauhou by Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall
The Agony of Joy by Red Haircrow
Empty Spaces by Jordan Abel
Passing Through a Prairie Country by Dennis E. Staples
To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage
The Way of Thorn and Thunder: The Kinship Chronicles by Daniel Heath Justice
Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse
Last Night in Nuuk by Niviaq Korneliussen
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roan Roanhorse
In the Hands of Men by Gin Sexsmith
Rezbians by Carmen Selam
Maiden, Mother, Crone: The Myth and Reality of the Triple Goddess by D. J. Conway
Food and Spirits by Beth Brant
Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly
Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko
Weird Fishes by Rae Mariz
The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach
Kiss of the Fur Queen by Tomson Highway
Màgòdiz by Gabe Calderón
Coexistence by Billy-Ray Belcourt
Probably Ruby by Lisa Bird-Wilson
Love Unleashed by Melanie Saward
Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology edited by Will Roscoe
Sordidez by E.G. Condé
Heat and Light by Ellen Van Neerven
Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse
A Minor Chorus by Bill-Ray Belcourt
The Sunforge by Sascha Stronach
Drowning in Fire by Craig S. Womack
Non-Fiction
Abandon Me by Melissa Febos
The Dry Season by Melissa Febos
As We Have Always Done by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder by Ma-Nee Chacaby
Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls by Angela Sterritt
Indigiqueerness: A Conversation about Storytelling by Joshua Whitehead
A Gathering of Spirit: A Collection by North American Indian Women edited by Beth Brant
Thinning Blood by Leah Myers
Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir by Deborah A. Miranda
Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos
Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back by Leanne Simpson
Mamaskatch by Darrel J. McLeod
Indigenous Writes by Chelsea Vowel
Girlhood by Melissa Febos
Thunder Through My Veins by Gregory Scofield
Making Love with the Land by Joshua Whitehead
Red Paint by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe
By the Fire We Carry by Rebecca Nagle
Whip Smart by Melissa Febos
The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle by Kent Monkman and Giséle Gordon
Thunder Song by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe
Theory of Water by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
poetry
Disintegrate/Dissociate by Arielle Twist
Ransack by Essa May Ranapiri
it was never going to be okay by Jaye Simpson
Nature Poem by Tommy Pico
Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers by Jake Skeets
The Trickster Riots by Taté Walker & Ohíya Walker
Corpse Whale by dg nano okpik
Good Medicine by Tenille K. Campbell
Varied Spirits by Red Haircrow
Rose Quartz by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe
This Wound is a World by Billy-Ray Belcourt
In Her I Am by Chrystos
She is Matriarch by Shuina Sko
Ask the Brindled by Nu’o Revilla
You Are Enough by Smokii Sumac
Injun by Jordan Abel
book awâsis — kinky and dishevelled by Louise B. Halfe
Withness, I am by Gregory Scofield
Full-metal Indigiqueer by Joshua Whitehead
Warrior Roses by Shuína Skó
My Life: Growing Up Native in America edited by IllumiNative
Fireweed by Tunchai Redvers
Heart of a Shapeshifter by Coyote Park
Throat by Ellen van Neerven
NISHGA by Jordan Abel
The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket by Kinsale Drake
A Body More Tolerable by Jaye Simpson
Not Vanishing by Chrystos
Kiskajei – I am Ready by Michelle Sylliboy
When My Brother Was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz
Sakihitowin by Jerilyn Alderman-Hansson
My Woman Card is anti-Native & Other Two-Spirit Truths by Xemiyulu M. Tapepechul
The All + Flesh by Brandi Bird
she walks for days inside a thousand eyes by Sharron Proulx-Turner
Young adult
Funeral Songs for Dying Girls by Cherie Dimaline
Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
Hey, June by Cree Nomad
Apple: Skin to the Core by Eric Gansworth
A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jen Ferguson
The Name Beareri by Natalia Hernandez
The Prince & the Coyote by David Bowles
Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline
Looking for Smoke by K. A. Cobell
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger
Hunting by Stars by Cherie Dimaline
If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie with Nahanni Shingoose
Ready When You Are by Gary Lonesborough
Merciless Saviors by H.E. Edgmon
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Fire From the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot
The Fae Keeper by H.E. Edgmon
An Honored Vow by Melissa Blair
The Art Thieves by Andrea L. Rogers
A Shadow Crown by Melissa Blair
Fire Song by Adam Garnet Jones
We Can Never Leave by H.E. Edgmon
The Fragments that Remain by Mackenzie Angeconeb
Love Beyond Body, Space, & Time edited by Hope Nicholson
The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon
A Vicious Game by Melissa Blaid
Street Dreams by K’wan Foye
Songs That Sound Like Blood by Jared Thomas
Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon
Love After the End edited by Joshua Whitehead
Picture Books
47,000 Beads by Angel Adeyoha & Koja Adeyoha
Families by Jesse Mike & Kerry McCluskey
Colors of Aloha by Kanoa Kai-Arteaga
Together We Drum, Our Hearts Beat as One by Willie Poll
Fluffy and the Stars by Táncháy Redvers
Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, & Joe Wilson
Phoenix Gets Greater by Marty Wilson-Trudeau with Phoenix Wilson
Shanice’s Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman by Shanice Davids with Nancy K. Mays
Buy These and Other Great Books at These Indigenous Owned Bookstores: