Books to Read for Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2024
Books to Read for Indigenous Peoples' Day 2024
To honor the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island, we’ve put together a list of our favorite books by North American Indigenous authors- fiction and nonfiction.
Over the past few decades, people in the United States have slowly begun to honor Indigenous peoples on the second Monday of October, replacing the holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer who “discovered” the Americas while sailing under the Spanish flag in 1492 (he famously mistook the islands now known as the Bahamas for part of Asia). Given the atrocities committed by Columbus and his men and the centuries of violence and land dispossession of Indigenous peoples under settler colonialism, many people have opted to celebrate and honor them instead.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day was first celebrated in California in 1992, 500 years after Columbus landed in the Americas. Since then, dozens of local governments have chosen to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day either alongside, or instead of, Columbus Day. In 2021, President Joe Biden formally commemorated Indigenous Peoples’ Day (the first time ever by a sitting US president), although it is still not a recognized federal holiday.
What can you do to be an ally to Native peoples?
First, expand your reading horizons! Read books authored by Indigenous peoples (we have a great list here to help get you started).
You can also:
Learn about the land you’re living on (who are its traditional peoples?) Click here to learn!
Learn about issues affecting Indigenous peoples (climate change, pollution, missing and murdered women and girls, attacks on tribal sovereignty, land dispossession, poverty, voter suppression).
Donate! Find an Indigenous group doing important work and help them out financially (if you can).
Listen. Listen to Indigenous people and take their concerns seriously. If they do not have a seat at the table, make space for them.
This post was written from the traditional homelands of the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui peoples (Tucson, AZ) and the Ahantchuyuk and Kalapuya peoples (Keizer, OR).
Look for these books at your local library, favorite independent bookstore, or buy online at Bookshop.org!
There, There, Tommy Orange, Vintage
Urban Indians, contemporary, debut, ceremony
About: Lauded as one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, listed as one the Great American Novels of the past century by The Atlantic, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Tommy Orange’s novel is a must-read. The book follows multiple Indigenous people living in Oakland, California, as they come together for a pow wow.The novel explores themes of identity, land dispossession, disconnectedness, alcoholism, and unemployment.
A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder, Ma-Nee Chacaby with Mary Louisa Plummer, University of Manitoba Press
Memoir, LGBTQIA+, addiction
About: A Two-Spirit Journey is Ma-Nee Chacaby's powerful memoir as an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian. It recounts her difficult upbringing in a struggling Ojibwa community marked by poverty and abuse. Chacaby learned cultural traditions from her Cree grandmother and survival skills from her Ojibwa stepfather, but also faced severe abuse and battled alcoholism in her youth.
At twenty, she left an abusive marriage for Thunder Bay with her children. Despite ongoing challenges, including racism, she sought help and supported others. Over the years, she achieved sobriety, became an alcoholism counselor, raised her children, and embraced her identity as a lesbian. In 2013, she led Thunder Bay's first gay pride parade.
Chacaby's journey reflects resilience, faith, and compassion, offering vital insights into the ongoing struggles of many Indigenous people.
Whiskey Tender: A Memoir, Deborah Jackson Taffa, Harper
Southwest, liminality, coming-of-age, memoir
About: Long-listed for the National Book Award, Whiskey Tender is a piercing, powerful story of the author’s childhood growing up on both the Quechan (Yuma) reservation and Diné (Navajo) territory in New Mexico.
The book focuses on her struggles as a mixed-tribe person (she is both Laguna Pueblo and Quechan) growing up in the 70s and 80s. It also provides a poignant and heartfelt discussion of the tensions between her parents’ desire for their children to assimilate and her own pain surrounding the loss and erasure of her land and cultural heritage.
Taffa’s book masterfully weaves the history of Indigenous peoples in the US (colonization, genocide, relocation, the Dawes Act, residential schools, termination, Red Power movement) to her own journey identifying generational traumas and reclaiming what it means (for her) to be Indigenous.
Moon of the Crusted Snow, Waubgeshig Rice, ECW Press
Post-apocalyptic, slow-burn thriller
About: As winter approaches, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark, leaving residents passive and confused as food supplies dwindle. Panic ensues while the band council struggles to maintain order. An unexpected visitor arrives from a crumbling society, followed by others who manipulate the desperate community to seize control.
As tensions rise and sickness spreads, a group of young friends, led by Evan Whitesky, turns to the land and Anishinaabe traditions to restore balance. This multiple-award-winning novel blends action and allegory, showing how resilience emerges from catastrophe and a new society can be reborn amidst chaos.
Blood Sisters, Vanessa Lillie, Berkley Publishing
Investigative mystery/thriller, MMIW
About: In this gripping mystery, Cherokee archeologist Syd Walker is summoned to rural Oklahoma to investigate the disappearance of her sister, Emma Lou, amidst troubling secrets tied to their homeland. Now working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Rhode Island, Syd is haunted by a violent past in Oklahoma she vowed never to revisit.
When a skull is discovered near the crime scene from her youth, she feels compelled to return. Determined to address her sister's disappearance and the ongoing neglect of missing Native women cases, Syd faces hostility from locals as she uncovers a dark history that threatens her safety. To save her sister, she must confront the town's buried secrets.
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History, Ned Blackhawk,
History-from-below, nonfiction, inspirational
About: Winner of the 2023 National Book Award for Nonfiction, Ned Blackhawk’s book is essential reading for everyone living in the United States. While most US history books acknowledge the presence of Native peoples, they are often written as footnotes. Blackhawk’s work is an important intervention, retelling the history of the country from the perspective of Indigenous peoples. More importantly, Blackhawk’s book demands we take seriously the significant impacts Indigenous peoples have had on the shaping of modern America. Rather than relics of a bygone era, Native peoples are still here, continuing to fight for their right and lands.
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal, Roaring Brooke Press
Picture book, debut, modern Native families
About: Filled with heart, Fry Bread is a beautifully written and illustrated picture book about contemporary Native families, told through fry bread (a staple food in many Native communities following the loss of land and traditional agricultural practices). It’s an endearing story of love, community, and connecting through food.
Sisters of the Lost Nation, Nick Medina, Berkley Publishing
Mythological horror, thriller
About: In this atmospheric and deeply moving debut, a young Native girl’s quest for answers about the mysterious disappearances of women from her tribe leads her to explore the myths and stories of her people, all while grappling with her own haunting presence.
Anna Horn constantly looks over her shoulder — whether it's for bullies, entitled visitors at the casino, or a nameless, ancient entity that seems to follow her, intent on consuming her.
As strange and sinister events unfold around the casino, Anna suspects that the horrors on the reservation are not just relics of the past. With girls going missing and the tribe desperately seeking answers, she struggles to find her place while searching for clues in her tribe’s legends.
When Anna’s little sister Grace disappears, she will do anything to bring her home. However, the demons—both ancient and modern—afflicting the reservation are powerful, and sometimes, the most important stories are the ones left untold.
Blending thriller and mythological horror, Nick Medina crafts a poignant novel about life as an outcast, the dangers of forgetting tradition, and the courage to embrace one’s true identity.
The Truth According to Ember, Danica Nava, Berkley Romance
Contemporary romance, open-door
About: In the first ever traditionally published romance novel by an Indigenous author, a Chickasaw woman finds herself caught in a web of little white lies that spirals out of control.
Ember Lee Cardinal hasn’t always been dishonest—at least, not about anything significant. But after facing rejection for the thirty-seventh time in her job search, she decides to get “creative” with her resumé. To answer the ethnicity question, she opts for a half-truth: while no one wanted a Native American candidate, "white" Ember secures her dream accounting job on Park Avenue (in Oklahoma City).
As Ember thrives in her corporate role, her love life takes a turn when she catches the eye of Danuwoa Colson, the IT guy and fellow Native. Despite concerns about the company's no-dating policy, they begin a secret romance that only intensifies their attraction. However, when they’re caught in a compromising situation during a work trip, a manipulative colleague blackmails Ember, threatening to reveal their relationship. As the situation escalates, so do Ember’s lies, forcing her to choose between silence and the truth—potentially at a great cost.
Red Nation Rising: From Bordertown Violence to Native Liberation, ed. Border Town Violence Working Group, PM Press
Land dispossession, borders, political struggle
About: Red Nation Rising is a collection of academic essays that explores violence within border communities in relation to Indigenous lands. It engages with the history of state violence against Indigenous communities in both the creation and maintenance of national borders.Importantly, in highlighting the political and material struggles of Indigenous peoples, the book seeks to create a new path for Native resistance, building on the wisdom and knowledge of past anti-colonial activists working towards Native liberation.
Where They Last Saw Her, Marcie Rendon, Bantam Books
Mystery, Amateur detective, MMIW
About: Quill has spent her entire life on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota, acutely aware of the dangers facing women like her. After witnessing Jimmy Sky jump from a railway bridge as a girl and running for help, Quill realizes she has never stopped running. While training for the Boston Marathon one morning, she hears a scream. When she returns to investigate, all she finds are tire tracks and a single beaded earring.
Now, Quill is no longer the lonely girl she once was. With friends like Punk and Gaylyn, who never back down, and her loving husband Crow and their two children, she strives to be better every day. When she learns that a second woman has gone missing, Quill is determined to take action, starting with the group of men working on a pipeline construction project nearby.
As she dives deeper into the mystery of the missing women, another person disappears. In her pursuit of justice for the women of the reservation, Quill confronts harsh truths about her community and those who claim to protect it. How many more neighbors, friends, and family will she lose? As she risks everything to make a difference, the novel poses difficult questions about bystander
A Council of Dolls, Mona Susan Power, Mariner Books
Historical fiction, family saga, magical realism
About: Longlisted for the National Book Award, this deeply moving novel by PEN Award–winning Native American author Mona Susan Power, explores three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from the 19th century to the present.
Set against the backdrop of Chicago, ancestral Dakota lands, and Indian boarding schools, the story unfolds through the dolls each woman carries.
Sissy, born in 1961, navigates a tumultuous relationship with her mother, finding solace in her doll Ethel, who offers guidance and even saves her in a crisis.
Lillian, born in 1925, clings to her sister Blanche and her doll Mae as they face the hardships of an Indian school, where Mae becomes a symbol of resilience amid tragedy.
Cora, born in 1888, confronts the legacy of the Indian Wars, and after her beloved doll Winona is destroyed, she discovers that Winona's spirit endures.
With lyrical prose, A Council of Dolls illuminates the lasting impacts of Indian boarding schools and the resilience of Indigenous people, weaving a narrative of love, healing, and hope.
I Was a Teenage Slasher, Stephen Graham Jones, Saga Press
Slasher horror, late 1980s
About: In 1989, Lamesa, Texas—a small town driven by oil and cotton, where everyone knows each other's business—seventeen-year-old Tolly Driver, a good kid with untapped potential, is faced with a dark fate: he’s about to be cursed to kill for revenge. In this novel, Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas of his youth, capturing the unfairness of feeling like an outsider through slasher horror. Told from Tolly’s perspective as he writes his own autobiography, the story invites you to root for a killer in this summer teen movie turned blood-curdling tragedy.