Native / Indigenous Authors: Fiction

Discover new voices and exceptional novels written by authors with Native or Indigenous heritage

Updated June 9, 2023
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Indian killer
Alexie, Sherman
A serial killer is stalking Seattle--taking the scalps of white males. Dubbed the "Indian Killer" by the local populace, the murderer's action have thrown the city's Native American community into turmoil. As retaliatory hate crimes against Native Americans escalate, John Smith--a Native American...
Even as we breathe : a novel
Clapsaddle, Annette Saunooke
Nineteen-year-old Cowney Sequoyah yearns to escape his hometown of Cherokee, North Carolina, in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. When a summer job at Asheville's luxurious Grove Park Inn and Resort brings him one step closer to escaping the hills that both cradle and suffocate him, he sees it as...
Empire of wild : a novel
Dimaline, Cherie
"Deftly written, gripping and informative. Empire of Wild is a rip-roaring read!"--Margaret Atwood, From Instagram "Empire of Wild is doing everything I love in a contemporary novel and more. It is tough, funny, beautiful, honest and propulsive--all the while telling a...
The Round House
Erdrich, Louise.
One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels Winner of the National Book Award * Washington Post Best Book of the Year * A New York Times Notable Book From one of the most revered novelists of our time, an exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and...
Crooked hallelujah
Ford, Kelli Jo
"A book that you want to share with everyone you know and one that you are desperate to keep in your own possession. A masterful debut and a new and thrilling voice for readers across the globe." --Sarah Jessica Parker, on Instagram It's 1974 in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and fifteen...
The removed : a novel
Hobson, Brandon
"A haunted work, full of voices old and new. It is about a family's reckoning with loss and injustice, and it is about a people trying for the same. The journey of this family's way home is full--in equal measure--of melancholy and love." --Tommy Orange, author of There There ...
People of the whale : a novel
Hogan, Linda.
Raised in a remote seaside village, Thomas Witka Just marries Ruth, his beloved since infancy. But an ill-fated decision to fight in Vietnam changes his life forever: cut off from his Native American community, he fathers a child with another woman. When he returns home a hero, he finds his tribe in...
Bad Cree : a novel
Johns, Jessica
In this gripping, horror-laced debut, a young Cree woman's dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community and the land they call home. "A mystery and a horror story about...
The only good Indians : a novel
Jones, Stephen Graham
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From USA TODAY bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones comes a "masterpiece" (Locus Magazine) of a novel about revenge, cultural identity, and the cost of breaking from tradition....
Green grass, running water
King, Thomas
There there
Orange, Tommy
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * 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. A contemporary classic, this...
The beadworkers : stories
Piatote, Beth H.
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 Told with humor, subtlety, and...
Tread of angels
Roanhorse, Rebecca
Celeste, a card sharp with a need for justice, takes on the role of advocatus diaboli, to defend her sister Mariel, accused of murdering a Virtue, a member of the ruling class of this mining town, in a new world of dark fantasy from the New York Times bestselling...
This town sleeps : a novel
Staples, Dennis E.
A "tender, suspenseful, irresistible first novel" that explores Indigenous legend, queer relationship, and the power of landscape and lineage to shape our lives (Louise Erdrich, author of The Round House). An unsolved murder becomes the fixation of an Indigenous...
When Two Feathers fell from the sky
Verble, Margaret
Louise Erdrich meets Karen Russell in this deliciously strange and daringly original novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble: set in 1926 Nashville, it follows a death-defying young Cherokee horse-diver who, with her companions from the Glendale Park Zoo, must get to the bottom of a...
Two old women : an Alaska legend of betrayal, courage and survival
Wallis, Velma
Based on an Athabascan Indian legend passed along for many generations from mothers to daughters of the upper Yukon River Valley in Alaska, this is the suspenseful, shocking, ultimately inspirational tale of two old women abandoned by their tribe during a brutal winter famine. ...
The Red Bird All-Indian traveling band
Washburn, Frances.
Opening July 4, 1969, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, The Red Bird All-Indian Traveling Band begins with a raucous Fourth of July gig that abruptly ends with the Red Birds ducking out of the performance in a hilarious hail of beer bottles. By the end of the evening, community member...
Winter counts : a novel
Weiden, David Heska Wanbli
ANTHONY AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL THRILLER AWARD WINNER FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL "Winter Counts is a marvel. It's a thriller with a beating heart and jagged teeth."  --Tommy Orange, author of There There ...
Jonny Appleseed : a novel
Whitehead, Joshua (Writer)
2021 CANADA READS WINNER WINNER, Lambda Literary Award; Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction Finalist, Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction; Amazon Canada First Novel Award; Indigenous Voices Award; Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award; Firecracker Award for...
Love after the end : an anthology of Two-spirit & Indigiqueer speculative fiction
Whitehead, Joshua (Writer)
Lambda Literary Award winner A bold and breathtaking anthology of queer Indigenous speculative fiction, edited by the author of Jonny Appleseed. This exciting and groundbreaking fiction collection showcases a number of new and emerging 2SQ (Two-Spirit and queer)...
The seed keeper : a novel
Wilson, Diane
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. Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her...
White horse
Wurth, Erika T.
"This ghost story is a perfect example of new wave horror that will also satisfy fans of classic Stephen King." --Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and Mexican Gothic Erika T. Wurth's White Horse is a gritty, vibrant debut novel...

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