Writer: Meiran Carlson
Although Native American Heritage Month was technically in November, we at the Free Thinker encourage you to check out these collections of work by Indigenous authors!
There There by Tommy Orange
Tommy Orange’s debut novel follows twelve people from Native communities, all travelling to the same place, not yet realizing they are connected.
“There There drops on us like a thunderclap; the big, booming, explosive sound of twenty-first century literature finally announcing itself. Essential.”
–Marlon James, author of A Brief History of Seven Killings and Her Body and Other Parties
The Absolutely True Diary of Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Sherman Alexie’s narrative, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is based off his own experiences growing up on a reservation. Taking place in Reardan, Washington, the story follows Alexie’s main character, Junior, on a compelling journey of identity and self-discovery.
“For 15 years now, Sherman Alexie has explored the struggle to survive between the grinding plates of the Indian and white worlds. He’s done it through various characters and genres, but ‘The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’ may be his best work yet.”
–Bruce Barcott, writing for The New York Times
Cell Traffic: New and Selected Poems by Heid E. Erdrich
Heid’s Cell Traffic discusses the physical and emotional inheritance of DNA and trauma, passed through generations of Indigenous families.
“In Cell Traffic Heid E. Erdrich untwists the coiled strands of genetic myth and memory to chart our experience in this wondrous universe. Through her eyes– her split vision of science and soul– she does nothing less than remake the world.”
–Susan Power, author of The Grass Dancer
Whereas by Layli Long Soldier
Whereas is Long Soldier’s written response to the Congressional resolution of apology to Native Americans from the point of view of a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
“Amid the detached and congressional, Long Soldier’s debut generously opens a doorway between the poetry of the personal and the poetry of protest. And what timing; as indigenous peoples are united in solidarity, praying together against continued conditions of violence, this book insists, ‘this is a ceremony.’ And Long Soldier’s Whereas notably punctuates that urge: ‘act accordingly.’”
–Michael Wasson, for The Harvard Review Online
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Taking place on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota, The Round House follows a young boy and his grief surrounding a violent attack on his mother.
“Erdrich has given us a multitude of narrative voices and stories. Never before has she given us a novel with a single narrative voice so smart, rich and full of surprises as she has in The Round House… and, I would argue, her best so far.”
– NPR/All Thing's Considered