The New York Society Library and Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum are pleased to announce a new multi-year series of special events and reading recommendations celebrating Indigenous American writers. This project will highlight both historical Native writers in the libraries’ collections and the diversity and vibrancy of Native writers being published in many genres today. 

New York City’s oldest cultural institution, the New York Society Library stands on traditional lands of the Lenape people and other Indigenous peoples. The Library has been collecting books related to Native American history and culture since the 1780s and has actively sought out books by writers from Indigenous backgrounds for almost a century. 

Located on the ancestral land of the Coast Salish people, Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum is America’s youngest Athenaeum, providing a community space for reading, writing, dialogue and learning. Folio is home to a Northwest Native American art and history collection and a growing collection of books in all genres by Indigenous writers.

Folio and the New York Society Library are excited to honor and promote Indigenous authors past and present and to help others increase their knowledge and enjoyment of these essential contributions to American literature.

To launch our project and observe Indigenous Peoples Day 2024, here are samples of recommended reading across the vast scope of Native writing past and present. Learn, revisit a beloved book, discover a new favorite.

NONFICTION

Navaho Weaving, Its Technic and History by Charles Avery Amsden (1934)
Explores the rich cultural heritage of the Navajo tribe and their unique weaving practices.
In the NYSL collection 

Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria Jr. (1969)
Standing Rock Sioux activist, professor, and attorney Vine Deloria, Jr., shares his thoughts about U.S. race relations, federal bureaucracies, Christian churches, and social scientists in a collection of eleven eye-opening essays infused with humor. 
In the NYSL collection | In Folio’s collection

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2015)
Recipient of the American Book Award, this is the first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples. Spanning more than four hundred years, this classic bottom-up peoples’ history radically reframes US history and explodes the silences that have haunted our national narrative. 
In the NYSL collection

Not “a Nation of Immigrants”: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2021)
Debunks the pervasive and self-congratulatory myth that our country is proudly founded by and for immigrants, and urges readers to embrace a more complex and honest history of the United States. 
In the NYSL collection

"All the Real Indians Died Off": and 20 Other Myths about Native Americans by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Gilio-Whitaker, Dina (2016)
In this enlightening book, scholars and activists Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker tackle a wide range of myths about Native American culture and history that have misinformed generations. Tracing how these ideas evolved, and drawing from history, the authors disrupt long-held and enduring myths and misconceptions.
In the NYSL collection

Our History is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance by Nick Estes (2023)
How two centuries of Indigenous resistance created the movement proclaiming “Water is life.”

As Long As Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock by Dina Gilio-Whitaker (2019)
The story of Native peoples’ resistance to environmental injustice and land incursions, and a call for environmentalists to learn from the Indigenous community’s rich history of activism.
In the NYSL collection

Poet Warrior: A Memoir by Joy Harjo (2021)
Three-term poet laureate Joy Harjo offers a vivid, lyrical, and inspiring call for love and justice in this contemplation of her trailblazing life.
In the NYSL collection | In Folio’s collection

Why Indigenous Literatures Matter by Daniel Heath Justice (2018)
Part survey of the field of Indigenous literary studies, part cultural history, and part literary polemic, Why Indigenous Literatures Matter asserts the vital significance of literary expression to the political, creative, and intellectual efforts of Indigenous peoples today.

Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present by Adrienne Keene, illustrated by Ciara Sana (2021)
An accessible and educational illustrated book profiling 50 notable American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people, from NBA star Kyrie Irving of the Standing Rock Lakota to Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013)
As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert). also see Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2022) 
In the NYSL collection

The World, the Text, and the Indian: Global Dimensions of Native American Literature by Scott Richard Lyons (2018)
Advances critical conversations in Native American literary studies by situating its subject in global, transnational, and modernizing contexts.

Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land by N. Scott Momaday (2020)
A magnificent testament to the earth, from Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet N. Scott Momaday. "Dazzling. . . . In glittering prose, Momaday recalls stories passed down through generations, illuminating the earth as a sacrosanct place of wonder and abundance. At once a celebration and a warning, Earth Keeper is an impassioned defense of all that our endangered planet stands to lose." — Esquire 
In the NYSL collection

The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America by Andrés Reséndez (2016)
A landmark history—the sweeping story of the enslavement of tens of thousands of Indians across America, from the time of the conquistadors up to the early twentieth century. A National Book Award finalist and winner of the Bancroft Prize. 
In the NYSL collection | In Folio’s collection

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treuer (2019)
A sweeping history—and counter-narrative—of Native American life from the Wounded Knee massacre to the present. A finalist for the 2019 National Book Award. "Chapter after chapter, it's like one shattered myth after another." - NPR 
In the NYSL collection | In Folio’s collection

The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad, illustrated by Brock Nicol (2018) and Beyond the Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad (2021)
The Orange Shirt Story is the true story of Phyllis and her orange shirt, and also the true story of Orange Shirt Day (an important day of remembrance for First Nations and non-First Nations peoples). 

Beyond the Orange Shirt Story is a unique collection of truths that articulate the lives and experiences of some Residential School Survivors and their families.

Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America 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. 
In Folio’s collection

FICTION

Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan (2024)
Longlisted for the National Book Award. An illuminating novel about the importance of reclaiming the past, based on the author's family history.

The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich (2001)
In a masterwork that both deepens and enlarges the world of her previous novels, acclaimed author Louise Erdrich captures the essence of a time and the spirit of a woman who felt compelled by her beliefs to serve her people as a priest.
In the NYSL collection

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (1984)
The first book in Louise Erdrich's highly acclaimed "Native American" trilogy that includes The Beet Queen, Tracks, and The Bingo Palace. "A dazzling series of family portraits...This novel is simply about the power of love."  - Chicago Tribune 
In the NYSL collection

Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine (2020)
A finalist for the National Book Award, winner of the American Book Award. Latinas of Indigenous descent living in the American West take center stage in this haunting debut story collection - a powerful meditation on friendship, mothers and daughters, and the deep-rooted truths of our homelands. 
In the NYSL collection | In Folio’s collection

Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford (2020)
Crooked Hallelujah tells the stories of Justine - a mixed-blood Cherokee woman - and her daughter, Reney, as they move from Eastern Oklahoma's Indian Country in the hopes of starting a new, more stable life in Texas amid the oil bust of the 1980s. In lush and empathic prose, Kelli Jo Ford depicts what this family of proud, stubborn Cherokee women sacrifices for those they love, amid larger forces of history, religion, class, and culture. 
In the NYSL’s collection

The Only Good Indians: A Novel by Stephen Graham Jones (2021)
A “masterpiece” (Locus Magazine) of a novel about revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition. Labeled “one of 2020’s buzziest horror novels” (Entertainment Weekly), this is a remarkable horror story that “will give you nightmares—the good kind of course” (BuzzFeed). 
In Folio’s collection

House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday (1968)
Winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize. “Both a masterpiece about the universal human condition and a masterpiece of Native American literature. . . . A book everyone should read for the joy and emotion of the language it contains.” — The Paris Review 
In the NYSL collection

There, There: A Novel by Tommy Orange (2018)
A wondrous and shattering award-winning novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. One of the Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. 
In the NYSL collection | In Folio’s collection

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (2021)
The "engrossing and vibrant" (Tochi Onyebuchi, author of Riot Baby) first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic. 
In the NYSL collection | In Folio’s collection

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko (1977)
More than thirty-five years since its original publication, Ceremony remains one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature, a novel that is itself a ceremony of healing, as a battered veteran returns home to heal his mind and spirit. One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years. 
In the NYSL collection

Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq (2018)
From the internationally acclaimed Inuit throat singer who has dazzled and enthralled the world with music it had never heard before, a fierce, tender, heartbreaking story unlike anything you've ever read. 
In the NYSL collection

Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty (2022)
Set in a Native community in Maine, Night of the Living Rez is a riveting debut collection about what it means to be Penobscot in the twenty-first century and what it means to live, to survive, and to persevere after tragedy. A winner of numerous awards including the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize. 
In the NYSL collection | Mr. Talty spoke to the Society Library’s audience on Night of the Living Rez in 2022 - watch the video

Fire Exit: A Novel by Morgan Talty (2024)
From the award-winning author of Night of the Living Rez, comes a masterful and unforgettable story of family, legacy, bloodlines, culture and inheritance, and what, if anything, we owe one another. 
In the NYSL collection | Mr. Talty spoke to the Society Library’s audience on Fire Exit in 2024 - watch the video

Panther in the Sky: A Novel Based on the Life of Tecumseh by James Alexander Thom (1990)
The epic story of Tecumseh's life and a heart-thumping novel of one man's magnificent destiny - to unite his people in the struggle to save their land and their way of life from the relentless press of the white settlers.

Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction, edited by Joshua Whitehead (2020)
A Lambda Literary Award winner, 2021. This exciting and groundbreaking fiction anthology showcases a number of new and emerging 2SQ (Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous) writers from across Turtle Island. These visionary authors show how queer Indigenous communities can bloom and thrive through utopian narratives that detail the vivacity and strength of 2SQness throughout its plight in the maw of settler colonialism’s histories. 

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson (2021)
A haunting novel spanning several generations, The Seed Keeper follows a Dakhóta family’s struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most.

CHILDREN’S and YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (2007)
A winner of the National Book Award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the hearbreaking yet funny story about a boy living on the Spokane Indian Reservation who wants to break free of the life he was destined to live. 
In the NYSL collection | In Folio’s collection

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (2021)
Angeline Boulley's much-awarded debut novel is a groundbreaking young-adult thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community. 
In the NYSL collection

We Still Belong by Christine Day (2024)
A thoughtful and heartfelt middle grade novel by American Indian Youth Literature Honor–winning author Christine Day (Upper Skagit), about a girl whose hopeful plans for Indigenous Peoples’ Day (and plans to ask her crush to the school dance) go all wrong—until she finds herself surrounded by the love of her Indigenous family and community at an intertribal powwow. 
In the NYSL collection

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (2017)
Just when you think you have nothing left to lose, they come for your dreams. Winner of five major awards including the 2017 Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People’s Literature. 
In the NYSL collection

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (1999)
A National Book Award finalist by Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Louise Erdrich, this is the first installment in an essential nine-book series chronicling one hundred years in the life of one Ojibwe family. 
In the NYSL collection

Remember by Joy Harjo, illustrated by Michaela Goade (2023)
US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s iconic poem "Remember," illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade, invites young readers to pause and reflect on the wonder of the world around them, and to remember the importance of their place in it. 
In the NYSL collection

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade (2020)
A Caldecott Medal-winning picture book that honors Indigenous-led movements across the world. Powerfully written and gorgeously illustrated, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption—inviting young readers everywhere to join the fight. 
In the NYSL collection

Indigenous Ingenuity: A Celebration of Traditional North American Knowledge by Deidre Havrelock and Edward Kay, illustrated by by Kalila Fuller (2023)
This groundbreaking book reframes many scientific discoveries through the lens of Indigenous knowledge and cultures. Readers of any age are invited to embrace the interconnectedness of all life and practice environmental responsibility.
In the NYSL collection

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal (2019)
Told in lively and powerful verse by debut author Kevin Noble Maillard, Fry Bread is an evocative depiction of a modern Native American family, vibrantly illustrated by Pura Belpre Award winner and Caldecott Honoree Juana Martinez-Neal. “A wonderful and sweet book . . . Lovely stuff.” —The New York Times Book Review 
In the NYSL collection

Powwow Day by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (2022)
River is recovering from illness and can't dance at the powwow this year. Will she ever dance again? A heartwarming and hopeful contemporary picture book about traditions, community, and healing, written and illustrated by Indigenous creators. 
In the NYSL collection

Finding My Dance by Ria Thundercloud, illustrated by Kalila J. Fuller (2022)
In her debut picture book, professional Indigenous dancer Ria Thundercloud tells the true story of her path to dance and how it helped her take pride in her Native American heritage. 
In the NYSL collection

POETRY

An American Sunrise: Poems by Joy Harjo (2019)
A stunning new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, informed by her tribal history and connection to the land. 
In Folio’s collection

Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry, collected and with an introduction by Joy Harjo, with a foreword by Carla D. Hayden (2021)
A powerful, moving anthology that celebrates the breadth of Native poets writing today. Joy Harjo, the first Native poet to serve as U.S. Poet Laureate, has championed the voices of Native peoples past and present. Her signature laureate project gathers the work of contemporary Native poets into a national, fully digital map of story, sound, and space, celebrating their vital and unequivocal contributions to American poetry. This companion anthology features each poem and poet from the project―including Natalie Diaz, Ray Young Bear, Craig Santos Perez, Sherwin Bitsui, and Layli Long Soldier, among others―to offer readers a chance to hold the wealth of poems in their hands. 
In the NYSL collection

FOLKLORE

A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World by Robert Bringhurst (2011)
The Haida world is a misty archipelago a hundred stormy miles off the coasts of British Columbia and Alaska. For a thousand years and more before the Europeans came, a great culture flourished in these islands. The linguist and ethnographer John Swanton took dictation from the last great Haida-speaking storytellers, poets and historians from the fall of 1900 through the summer of 1901. Poet and linguist Robert Bringhurst brings these works to life in the English language and sets them in a context just as rich as the stories themselves--one that reaches out to dozens of Native American oral literatures, and to mythtelling traditions around the globe. 
In the NYSL collection

The Grandfathers Speak: Native American Folk Tales of the Lenapé People by Hitakonanu'laxk (Tree Beard) (2023)
Twenty-four gracefully told and authentically narrated folk tales of the Lenapé people, written by the chief of the Lenapé Nation.

REFERENCE

The Cambridge Companion To Native American Literature, edited by Joy Porter and Kenneth M. Roemer (2005)
An informative and wide-ranging overview of literature of many genres in English by American Indians from the 1770s to the present day. In addition to the seventeen chapters written by respected experts - Native and non-Native; American, British and European scholars - it includes bio-bibliographies of forty authors, maps, suggestions for further reading, and a timeline which details major works of Native American and mainstream American literature, as well as significant social, cultural and historical events. 
In the NYSL collection