Reading books by Indigenous authors should be something we strive to do all year long, but November (National Native American Heritage Month) is a great time to add some titles to your bookshelves.

This list is meant to serve as a jumping-off point to help broaden your perspective as well as your reading list.  There is a lot of variety here — some of these books are a few decades old, and others were recently published.  Either way, I hope you will find and enjoy a new to you book from this list!

RELATED:

• Check out our 2022 Books By Indigenous Authors book list.
• We also have a 2021 Books by Native American Authors book list.
• We recommend checking out the Indigenous Peoples Movement if you’re interested in taking direct action to support Indigenous rights and culture.

The Beadworkers by Beth Piatote

Beth Piatote’s luminous debut collection opens with a feast, grounding its stories in the landscapes and lifeworlds of the Native Northwest, exploring the inventive and unforgettable pattern of Native American life in the contemporary world.

Eyes Bottle Dark With A Mouthful of Flowers by Jake Skeets

Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers is a debut collection of poems by a dazzling geologist of queer eros.

Future Home of a Living God by Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich, the New York Times bestselling, National Book Award-winning author of LaRose and The Round House, paints a startling portrait of a young woman fighting for her life and her unborn child against oppressive forces that manifest in the wake of a cataclysmic event.

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

A groundbreaking thriller about a vigilante on a Native American reservation who embarks on a dangerous mission to track down the source of a heroin influx.

There There by Tommy Orange

A chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native Americans. Grappling with a complex and painful history, an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, communion, sacrifice, and heroism. Hailed as an instant classic, There There is poignant, unflinching, utterly contemporary, and truly unforgettable.

Feed by Tommy Pico

Feed is an ode of reconciliation to the wild inconsistencies of a northeast spring, a frustrating season of back-and-forth, of thaw and blizzard, but with a faith that even amidst the mess, it knows where it’s going.

Heart Berries by Terese Mailhot

A powerful, poetic memoir of an Indigenous woman’s coming of age on the Seabird Island Band in the Pacific Northwest.

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

More than thirty-five years since its original publication, Ceremony remains one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature.  It’s a novel that is a healing ceremony as a battered veteran returns home to heal his mind and spirit.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary.  The Only Good Indians follow four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind to catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way.

Savage Conversations by LeAnne Howe

May 1875: Mary Todd Lincoln is addicted to opiates and tried in a Chicago court on charges of insanity. Entered into evidence is Ms. Lincoln’s claim that every night a Savage Indian enters her bedroom and slashes her face and scalp. She is swiftly committed to Bellevue Place Sanitarium. Her hauntings may be a reminder that in 1862, President Lincoln ordered the hanging of thirty-eight Dakotas in the largest mass execution in United States history. No one has ever linked the two events–until now.

Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog

Originally published in 1990, Lakota Woman was a national best seller and the American Book Award winner. It is a unique document, unparalleled in American Indian literature, a story of death, of determination against all odds, of the cruelties perpetuated against American Indians, and of the Native American struggle for rights.

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

Saul Indian Horse is a child when his family retreats into the woods. Among the lakes and the cedars, they attempt to reconnect with half-forgotten traditions and hide from the authorities who have been kidnapping Ojibway youth. But when winter approaches, Saul loses everything: his brother, his parents, his beloved grandmother–and then his home itself. Spare and compact yet undeniably rich, Indian Horse is at once a heartbreaking account of a dark chapter in our history and a moving coming-of-age story.

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott

Elliott’s deeply personal writing details a life spent between Indigenous and white communities.  This divide is reflected in her own family, and engages with such wide-ranging topics as race, parenthood, love, art, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrification, and representation. Throughout, she makes thrilling connections both large and small between the past and present, the personal and political.

The Accident of Being Lost by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Blending elements of Nishnaabeg storytelling, science fiction, contemporary realism, and the lyric voice.  This Accident of Being Lost burns with a quiet intensity, like a campfire in your backyard, challenging you to reconsider the world you thought you knew.

Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson

Set in rural Oklahoma during the late 1980s, Where the Dead Sit Talking is a stunning and lyrical Native American coming-of-age story.

Winter in the Blood by James Welch

The narrator of this beautiful, often disquieting novel is a young Native American man living on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana. Sensitive and self-destructive, he searches for something that will bind him to the lands of his ancestors. But is haunted by personal tragedy, the dissolution of his once proud heritage, and Montana’s vast emptiness.

What do you think about the books on this list?

Have you read any books from this list?  What are your favorite books by Indigenous authors?  What books would you add to the list?