Indigenous Books for the Holidays
Give the gift of Indigenous literature this holiday season and support Indigenous authors with these recommendations from Carlee Wilson!
Fiction – The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America’s Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world.
Historical Fiction – 1666 by Lora Chilton
This story follows three Indigenous Patawomeck women who lived through the decimation of their tribe by land-hungry colonists in the summer of 1666, the harrowing march south where they and their children were sold and transported to Barbados via slave ship, and, eventually, their brave escape back to Virginia. It is because of these women that the tribe is in existence to this day.
Nonfiction – By the Fire We Carry by Rebecca Nagle
Rebecca Nagle recounts the generations-long fight for tribal land and sovereignty in eastern Oklahoma, chronicling both the contemporary legal battles and historic acts of Indigenous resistance. The story it tells exposes both the wrongs that our nation has committed and the Native-led battle for justice that has shaped our country.
Romance – The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava
A Chickasaw woman who can’t catch a break serves up a little white lie that snowballs into much more in this witty and irresistible rom-com by debut author Danica Nava.
Horror – Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology
These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.
Short Stories – Take Us to Your Chief by Drew Hayden Taylor
Infused with Native stories and variously mysterious, magical and humorous, Take Us to Your Chief is the perfect mesh of nostalgically 1950s-esque science fiction with modern First Nations discourse.
Children’s Book – Berry Song by Michaela Goade
Land stewardship and intergenerational learning are the highlights here as readers, follow this heartwarming story of a grandmother and granddaughter foraging for food through the seasons.
Graphic Novel – This Place: 150 Years Retold by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm
Explore the last 150 years through the eyes of Indigenous creators in the graphic novel anthology, This Place: 150 Years Retold. Beautifully illustrated, these stories are an emotional and enlightening journey through magic realism, serial killings, psychic battles, and time travel. See how Indigenous peoples have survived a post-apocalyptic world since Contact.
Comic Book – A Howl: An Indigenous Anthology of Wolves, Werewolves, and Rougarou by Elizabeth LaPensée
A collection of comics featuring accomplished writers and illustrators who have a love for all things wolves, werewolves, and rougarou.
Poetry – Notes of An Indigenous Futurist by Cliff Taylor
A wonderful book of poetry by a friend of the Chinook! Notes of An Indigenous Futurist is an unfiltered, beadwork-and-Bigfoot saturated, ecstatic remembering of a fortysomething Ponca’s life.
Coffee Table Book – Project 562 by Matika Wilbur
A photographic and narrative celebration of contemporary Native American life and cultures, alongside an in-depth examination of issues that Native people face, by celebrated photographer and storyteller Matika Wilbur of the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes.
Cookbook – tawâw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine
[pronounced ta-WOW] Acclaimed chef Shane M. Chartrand’s debut cookbook explores the reawakening of Indigenous cuisine and what it means to cook, eat, and share food in our homes and communities.
Purchase the above from these Indigenous book stores!
Birchbark Books: https://birchbarkbooks.com/
ATCG Books & Comics: https://atcgbooksandcomics.com/
Time Enough Books (Chinook-owned, located in Ilwaco): https://timeenoughbooks.com/
