Lists
by Powell's Staff, November 7, 2022 9:58 AM
Every year, we like to celebrate Native American Heritage Month by featuring a list of recently published books by Native authors. This year, I was struck by how many of the books are debuts, and how many of them manage to masterfully walk that tightrope line of tone — they’re often hilarious and moving in equal measure, while interrogating the difficult topics of colonialism, white supremacy, generational trauma, and cycles of addiction, displacement, and dispossession (just to name a few). The books on this list are vivid, expansive, and beautifully written. Wonderful books to read this Native American Heritage Month; wonderful books to read all year-round.
Night of the Living Rez
by Morgan Talty
This debut story collection from Tin House (one of my favorite publishers) has been blurbed by Tommy Orange (one of my favorite writers), who compared it to Jesus’ Son (one of my favorite story collections), so to say I was all in before reading it would be an understatement. The stories, about Native people living on a Penobscot reservation in Maine, center around a young Native man named David as he does his best to orient himself inside an often-less-than-generous world. There are medicine men and methadone treatments, evil curses and drug addictions, and plenty of bad decisions. These stories — often vacillating between the fantastic and the mundane — are at turns hilarious and moving and devasting, Talty’s debut collection is one you don’t want to miss out on.
For more, check out this Powell’s Q&A with Morgan Talty.
White Horse
by Erika T. Wurth
Another book I picked up based on a blurber: this time it was Stephen Graham Jones that got me. And he was right! I read this book in maybe two sittings (truly a record for me). When Kari Jones, a self-described urban Native, finds a haunted bracelet that once belonged to her mother, she’s forced to start asking the questions about her mother’s death that she’s been avoiding for years, all while a mysterious, vicious monster chases after her. This one was truly a wild ride — I had no clue where it was taking me from one moment to the next, but was consistently thrilled and often moved by Kari’s emotional and psychological journey.
Calling for a Blanket Dance
by Oscar Hokeah
The fact that Calling for a Blanket Dance is a debut is truly astounding. It’s assured and nuanced, beautifully written, with deftly drawn characters. The novel (lowkey a collection of linked stories) centers on Ever Geimausaddle’s coming-of-age, as told through the perspective of his Kiowa, Cherokee, and Mexican extended family members, and it isn’t afraid to dig into the darker realities of complicated family ties, generational trauma, cycles of addiction, displacement, and dispossession. For all of that, though, there’s also joy and love and hope as Ever finds his way forward. An incredibly rewarding read.
A Calm and Normal Heart
by Chelsea T. Hicks
The 12 stories in this debut story collection are at turns funny, moving, heart-shattering, clever, intimate, and occasionally chaotic. Hicks’s stories are deeply concerned with the Indigenous experience, with place and belonging, with the modern world coexisting alongside the characters’ connection with their ancestors. Her characters are vivid, even as they struggle their way through their lives. This is a strong first collection from Hicks; I can’t wait to read her next book.
Sinking Bell
by Bojan Louis
This poetic, dystopic story collection from Bojan Louis, a Diné writer, is filled with characters searching for more, whatever that more might mean. The stories, all set around Flagstaff, Arizona, show characters muddling through their day jobs (cleaning, repairing, painting) while making bids for connections with others as well as for connections with their heritage and the world around them. Through his beautiful prose, Louis manages to convey deep care and empathy, which is what makes these stories cut through to bone — in the best way. As Kelli Jo Ford, author of Crooked Hallelujah, said: “You’re going to want to take your time with this one, and then you’re going to want to press it into the hands of all your best people.”
A Minor Chorus
by Billy-Ray Belcourt
Cree poet Billy-Ray Belcourt’s debut novel is a masterwork, told from the perspective of a young, queer Cree man fed up with academia. When the character returns home after abandoning his PhD program, he’s forced to confront his identity, loneliness, desire, and the ever-ongoing question of how to live in a world that has been so severely redrawn by colonization, white supremacy, and racism. Sometimes the writing is so intimate and interior, it starts to feel uncomfortable, which makes it even more affecting. Altogether startling and beauty — we’re lucky this book exists in the world.
Shutter
by Ramona Emerson
Boy did this book sell itself: a forensic crime photographer can see the dead. It’s a gift that has helped Rita Todacheene solve crimes, but the ghosts also crowd around her, nagging her for her help. When she goes to photograph the scene of a supposed suicide, the ghost insists that it was actually murder, and Rita is swept up in the dangerous, propulsive story of what may or may not have happened. This book is an intense, occasionally gruesome, ride. The chapters alternate between the mystery and Rita’s upbringing on a Diné reservation, and how she came to terms with her gift. This is one of those books you can’t put down. Emerson starts the book at a 10, and just goes from there. I loved this one.
Tread of Angels
by Rebecca Roanhorse
I am such a sucker for a good whodunnit, and this whodunnit, built into a dark and fantastical world with elements of romance and noir and western tropes, is good! This novella packs a punch and Roanhorse is clearly having fun with the complex and twisty world she’s built. I’m tempted to rattle off everything this novella contains (Angels! Demons! A card shark with a heart!), but I don’t want to spoil anyone’s fun, so I’ll just say: enjoy.
Don’t miss our event with Rebecca Roanhorse, in conversation with Fonda Lee at Powell’s City of Books, on November 17.
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For more recommendations, original essays, and bookseller displays, check out our Native American Heritage Month resource page.
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