Celebrating Native American Authors for Native American Heritage Month
Top Reads by Native American Authors
- N. Scott Momaday – House Made of Dawn
N. Scott Momaday, a Kiowa Nation member, is considered to be the trailblazer in the Native American Renaissance. His Pulitzer Prize winning novel, House Made of Dawn, is considered the first Native American Renaissance novel. In this novel, the young protagonist, Abel, finds himself torn between the spiritual world of his tribe and the fascinating technological developments of 20th century America.
- James Welch – Winter in the Blood
A haunting title, Winter in the Blooddrew national attention after publication becoming a film of the same name in 2014. This novel, Welch’s debut novel, became an important piece in Native American Literature. The story depicts a nameless youth struggling with alcoholism and to find purpose in life after a family tragedy.
- Janet Campbell Hale – The Jailing of Cecilia Capture
Her critically acclaimed novel is written in her signature sparse writing style. It follows the main character, a mother and law student after she is jailed for drunk driving on her 30th birthday. Hale is also a young adult fiction writer with The Owl’s Song and poet writing in The Whispering Wind: Poetry by Young American Indians.
- Leslie Marmon Silko – Ceremony
Considered by many the first female Native American Novelist, her debut novel, Ceremony, depicts a young soldier who finds himself isolated from society on his return to America after being held a prisoner of war in Japan in World War II. Silko is also the author of Almanac of the Dead, an 800-page epic novel about the many faces of American life.
- Gerald Vizenor – Bearheart
A pivotal figure in the Native American Renaissance, Vizenor, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, has inspired a generation of Native American authors. An activist, he has published over thirty books which draw on a mixture of Native myth, research, science fiction, and personal reflections. A science fiction novel, Bearheart, follows a group of pilgrims as government agents try to claim the sacred cedar trees from their land. Vizenor’s vivid descriptions bring to life the terrifying prospect of environmental dystopia.
- Louise Erdrich – The Round House
Perhaps the best known contemporary Native American novelist, Erdrich is a member of the Anishinaabe Nation (Chippewa). Much of her writing reflects her mixed German-American heritage passed from her father and half-Ojibwe, half-French mother. I’ve read one of her novels, The Round House, that features a young boy who witnesses a violent crime. Her novel, Love Medicine, is the first novel of a trilogy that follows the Kashpaw and Lamartine families in their epic drama with a blend of dark humor, betrayal, loyalty, and a touch of magic on a North Dakota Ojibwe reservation.
- LeAnne Howe – Shell Shaker
A citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, she grew up on a reservation listening to her grandmother’s stories, an experience that set her on a path of a career as a playwright, poet, and novelist. Her novel, Shell Shaker, traces parallel stories of two Choctaw leaders separated by 200 years, the abuse of power and its consequences.
- Susan Power – The Grass Dancer
I am always a fan of historical fiction, especially when it comes with a twinge of magical realism. The Grass Dancer is set between 1865 and 1986. This multilayered work follows four generations of Native Americans as they struggle with their cultural and family legacies.
- Cherie Dimaline – The Marrow Thieves
Cherie Dimaline garnered adoration with publication of her young adult title, The Marrow Thieves, in 2017. This book combines Indigenous knowledge with science fiction to create an apocalyptic world and rose to the list of top young adult books. A member of the Georgian Bay Metiz Nation in Canada, she brings to light the dark history of removal of children and their assimilation into Canada and the U.S. Even so, themes of family and hope are championed in her work.
- Brandon Hobson – The Removed
Hobson’s 2021 release, The Removed, explores historical and contemporary government-sanctioned violence against Cherokee teens. The trauma of the Trail of Tears is relived through the pages of this novel intertwined with the fatal shooting of fifteen-year-old Ray-Ray Echota. Blending the realm of real and spiritual, the novel is a potent story of generational grief and storytelling.
I hoped you found some books to educate, inspire, and entertain. I chose these authors from a multitude of Native American Authors based on their prominent works and my own reading preferences. Find other Native American Authors on Best Native American Authors You Can Listen to Right Now on Audible, Oprah’s List of 31 Native American Authors To Read Right Now, and Good Housekeeping’s 15 Best Books by Native American Authors in 2021.
Happy Reading & Listening, Tricia
Tricia believes in finding magic. Whether its in technology, art, nature, or each other, she believes magic infuses everything. She aims to create characters who epitomize what it looks like to herald their own personal magical qualities and abilities. You can find her inspiring romance, paranormal fantasy, and dystopian titles on her website at triciacopeland.com.