Each November we create a fresh edition of our list of novels and stories by Native American writers, and this year’s list has some really terrific titles for just about any taste. Here’s a small sample of what you’ll find there:
- Probably Ruby, the American debut by Saskatchewan Métis and nêhiyaw poet Lisa Bird-Wilson, tells of a thirty-something Métis woman who was adopted by white parents, and now seeks to reconnect with her family, recover her lost heritage, and better understand her true identity.
- Shutter, by New Mexico-based Diné filmmaker Ramona Emerson. Albuquerque P.D. forensic photographer Rita Todacheene takes more than photographs of the dead, communing with their spirits. Now a supposed suicide refuses to let her rest until her murder is avenged.
- A Calm & Normal Heart, by Osage author Chelsea Hicks. In these edgy stories, young Indigenous women negotiate the highwire of surviving in a land and culture that is at once profoundly theirs, and yet alienates them at almost every turn.
- Calling for a Blanket Dance, by Oscar Hokeah. We are made of the stories we tell, and that are told about us. A dozen varied accounts by the Mexican, Cherokee and Kiowa family of Ever Geimausaddle reveal a young man both trapped and liberated by the stories and traditions that surround him.
- Buffalo is the New Buffalo: Stories, by Chelsea Vowel. These shape-shifting Métis futurist tales juxtapose ancient traditions and traumas with 21st century technologies and phenomena, envisioning a future that answers and heals the past.
- White Horse, by Erika T. Wurth. Hard rocking, hard living Kari James turned her back on her troubled upbringing, but a family heirloom suddenly revives the restless spirit of her mother, leading to questions about just what happened all those years ago. Atmospheric gothic horror that packs a punch.
~ Posted by David W.
Shelf Talk 