Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Must-Read Adult Fiction & Nonfiction

November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to honor the rich history, diverse cultures, and enduring traditions of Indigenous Peoples.

To delve deeper into the world of Indigenous experiences, consider exploring these captivating books by indigenous authors. Whether you're drawn to historical and current fiction, contemporary memoir, cookbooks, or thought-provoking nonfiction, these works offer unique perspectives and powerful storytelling.

By reading these books, you'll gain a deeper understanding of Indigenous history, culture, and contemporary issues. Let's celebrate Native American Heritage Month by supporting Indigenous authors and amplifying their voices.

Updated November 1, 2024
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Lewis and Clark Public Library
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And then she fell : a novel
Elliott, Alicia
Paper Book
A Globe and Mail "Best Book of 2023"; a Most Anticipated Book Pick by Good Morning America, Bustle, CrimeReads, Electric Literature, Debutiful, Ms. Magazine, The Nerd Daily, and Paste A mind-bending, razor-sharp look at...
Bad Cree
Johns, Jessica
Paper Book
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...
Becoming Kin : An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future
Krawec, Patty/ Estes, Nick (FRW)
Paper Book
We find our way forward by going back. The invented history of the Western world is crumbling fast, Anishinaabe writer Patty Krawec says, but we can still honor the bonds between us. Settlers dominated and divided, but Indigenous peoples won't just send them all "home." ...
Becoming Little Shell: Returning Home to the Landless Indians of Montana
La Tray, Chris
Paper Book
A People Magazine "Best New Book of the Month" Finalist for the 2024 Pacific Northwest Book Award "I'm in awe of Chris La Tray's storytelling. Becoming Little Shell creates a multilayered narrative from threads of personal, family, community,...
A beginner's guide to Native American herbal medicine : 75 natural remedies for wellness and balance
Queen, Angela Locklear
Paper Book
Improve your well-being with Native American herbal medicine. Native American herbal medicine offers a powerful way to connect with the earth and heal naturally--and with this handbook of Native American herbs, you can learn all about herb uses and their restorative effects. Written by an...
The Berry Pickers
Peters, Amanda
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER 2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize Winner Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a mystery that will haunt the survivors, unravel a family,...
Blood Sisters
Lillie, Vanessa
Paper Book
A visceral and compelling mystery about a Cherokee archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is summoned to rural Oklahoma to investigate the disappearance of two women...one of them her sister. There are secrets in the land. As an archeologist for the...
Braiding sweetgrass : [indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teaching of plants]
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Bestseller Named a "Best Essay Collection of the Decade" by Literary Hub As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member...
By the fire we carry / The Generations-long Fight for Justice on Native Land
Nagle, Rebecca
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Book of the Year  * An Esquire Best Book of Fall 2024  * A Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction "Impeccably researched. . . . A fascinating...
Canyon dreams : a basketball season on the Navajo Nation
Powell, Michael
Paper Book
The moving story of a Navajo high school basketball team, its members struggling with the everyday challenges of high school, adolescence, and family, and the great and unique obstacles facing Native Americans living on reservations.   Deep in the heart of northern Arizona,...
A Council of Dolls
Power, Mona Susan
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD The long-awaited, profoundly moving, and unforgettable new novel from PEN Award-winning Native American author Mona Susan Power, spanning three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from the 19th century to the present day. From the mid...
Crooked hallelujah
Ford, Kelli Jo
Paper Book
"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...
Empire of wild : a novel
Dimaline, Cherie
Paper Book
"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...
Everything you wanted to know about Indians but were afraid to ask /
Treuer, Anton.
Paper Book
"I had a profoundly well-educated Princetonian ask me, 'Where is your tomahawk?' I had a beautiful woman approach me in the college gymnasium and exclaim, 'You have the most beautiful red skin.' I took a friend to see Dances with Wolves and was told, 'Your people have a beautiful culture.'...
A girl called Echo. Vol. 2, Red River resistance
Vermette, Katherena
Paper Book
Echo Desjardins is adjusting to her new home, finding friends, and learning about Métis history. She just can't stop slipping back and forth in time. One ordinary afternoon in class, Echo finds herself transported to the banks of the Red River in the summer of 1869. All is not well in the...
A grandmother begins the story
Porter, Michelle
Paper Book
From award-winning Métis author Michelle Porter, a powerfully funning and moving story told not just by five generations of Métis women, but also by the land, the bison that surround them, and two utterly captivating dogs. Carter is a young mother on a quest to...
The heartbeat of Wounded Knee : native America from 1890 to the present
Treuer, David
Paper Book
Beginning with the tribes' devastating loss of land and the forced assimilation of their children at government-run boarding schools, he shows how the period of greatest adversity also helped to incubate a unifying Native identity. He traces how conscription in the US military and the pull of urban...
If I ever get out of here : a novel with paintings
Gansworth, Eric
Paper Book
Now in paperback: The debut novel Laurie Halse Anderson praised for "fearlessly laying down the truth" about friendship, poverty, and the joys of rock 'n' roll.Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games,...
Indian Burial Ground
Medina, Nick
Paper Book
All Noemi Broussard wanted was a fresh start. With a new boyfriend who actually treats her right and a plan to move from the reservation she grew up on - just like her beloved Uncle Louie before her - things are finally looking up for Noemi. Until the news of her boyfriend's apparent suicide brings...
An indigenous peoples' history of the United States /
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne,
Paper Book
New York Times Bestseller Now part of the HBO docuseries "Exterminate All the Brutes," written and directed by Raoul Peck Recipient of the American Book Award The first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples ...
Living resistance : an indigenous vision for seeking wholeness every day
Curtice, Kaitlin B.
Paper Book
In an era in which "resistance" has become tokenized, popular Indigenous author Kaitlin B. Curtice reclaims it as a basic human calling. Resistance is for every human who longs to see their neighbors' holistic flourishing. We each have a role to play in the world right where we are, and our everyday...
The lost journals of Sacajewea
Earling, Debra Magpie
Paper Book
Winner of the Montana Book Award From the award-winning author of Perma Red comes a devastatingly beautiful novel that challenges prevailing historical narratives of Sacajewea. "In my seventh winter,...
Maud's line
Verble, Margaret
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE A debut novel chronicling the life and loves of a headstrong, earthy, and magnetic heroine Eastern Oklahoma, 1928. Eighteen-year-old Maud Nail lives with her rogue father and sensitive brother on...
My heart is a chainsaw
Jones, Stephen Graham
Paper Book
Winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel Named a Best Book of 2021 by NPR In her quickly gentrifying rural lake town Jade sees recent events only her encyclopedic knowledge of horror films could have prepared her for in this latest novel from the Jordan...
Native nations : a millennium in North America
DuVal, Kathleen
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE * "An essential American history" (The Wall Street Journal) that places the power of Native nations at its center, telling their story from the rise of ancient cities more than a thousand years ago to fights for sovereignty that continue today
Never whistle at night : an Indigenous dark fiction anthology
Hawk, Shane
Ebook
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST EDITED ANTHOLOGY * BRAM STOKER AWARD NOMINEE FOR SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT IN AN ANTHOLOGY * LOCUS AWARD FINALIST A bold, clever, and sublimely sinister collection that dares to ask the question: "Are you ready to be un...
Night of the living rez
Talty, Morgan
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER Winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection New England Book Award Winner, Fiction A Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Fiction, The Story Prize, B&N Discover Book Prize A New York...
Notable native people : 50 indigenous leaders, dreamers, and changemakers from past and present
Keene, Adrienne
Paper Book
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 An American Indian...
On savage shores : how indigenous Americans discovered Europe
Dodds Pennock, Caroline
Paper Book
AN ECONOMIST AND SMITHSONIAN BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A landmark work of narrative history that shatters our previous Eurocentric understanding of the Age of Discovery by telling the story of the Indigenous Americans who journeyed across the Atlantic to Europe after...
Poet Warrior: A Memoir
Harjo, Joy
Paper Book
Joy Harjo, the first Native American to serve as U.S. poet laureate, invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her "poet-warrior" road. A musical, kaleidoscopic, and wise follow-up to Crazy Brave, Poet Warrior reveals how Harjo came to write poetry of...
Probably Ruby : a novel
Bird-Wilson, Lisa
Paper Book
An Indigenous woman adopted by white parents goes in search of her identity in this unforgettable debut novel about family, race, and history. Finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award * "Engaging . . . Ruby never disappoints with her big heart and outrageous sense of...
Prudence : a novel
Treuer, David.
Paper Book
A haunting and unforgettable novel about love, loss, race, and desire in World War II–era America.   On a sweltering day in August 1942, Frankie Washburn returns to his family’s rustic Minnesota resort for one last visit before he joins the war as a bombardier, headed...
The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
Blackhawk, Ned
Paper Book
National Bestseller Winner of the 2023 National Book Award in Nonfiction * Finalist for the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Award in History * Winner of 2024 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Nonfiction * Winner of the 2024 Mark Lynton History Prize ...
The removed : a novel
Hobson, Brandon
Paper Book
"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 ...
The round house
Erdrich, Louise.
Paper Book
One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels The Round House won the National Book Award for fiction. One of the most revered novelists of our time--a brilliant chronicler of Native-American life--Louise Erdrich returns to the territory of her bestselling, Pulitzer Prize...
Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky : Modern Plant-based Recipes Using Native American Ingredients
Frank, Lois Ellen
Paper Book
This enriching cookbook celebrates eight important plants Native Americans introduced to the rest of the world: corn, beans, squash, chile, tomato, potato, vanilla, and cacao--with more than 100 recipes. When these eight Native American plants crossed the ocean after 1492, the world's...
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world. As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding...
Sharks in the time of saviors
Washburn, Kawai Strong
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE 2020 PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT NOVEL. One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020. A finalist for the 2020 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. Named one of the Best Books of 2020 by the New York Times (#30), the Guardian, the Boston Globe, Oprah<...
The Sioux Chef's indigenous kitchen
Sherman, Sean
Paper Book
2018 James Beard Award Winner: Best American Cookbook Named one of the Best Cookbooks of 2017 by NPR, The Village Voice, Smithsonian Magazine, UPROXX, New York Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Mpls. St. Paul...
Sisters of the lost nation
Medina, Nick
Paper Book
Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation's casino and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step - an ancient tribal myth come to life, one that's intent on devouring her whole. With strange and...
There there : a novel
Orange, Tommy
Paper Book
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...
To Shape a Dragon's Breath
Blackgoose, Moniquill
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER . WINNER OF THE NEBULA AND LODESTAR AWARDS . FINALIST FOR THE ASTOUNDING, LOCUS, AND BRITISH FANTASY NEWCOMER AWARDS . "My favorite book of the year . . . a coming-of-age story that is cozy and hair-raising in equal measure."-Charlie Jane Anders, The Washington Post
The Truth According to Ember
Nava, Danica
Paper Book
Ember Lee Cardinal has not always been a liar - well, not for anything that counted at least. But her job search is not going well and when her resume is rejected for the thirty-seventh time, she takes matters into her own hands. She gets 'creative' listing her qualifications and answers the...
Wandering stars
Orange, Tommy
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE * The Pulitzer Prize-finalist and author of the breakout bestseller There There ("Pure soaring beauty."The New York Times Book Review) delivers a masterful follow-up to his already classic first novel. Extending...
We refuse to forget : a true story of Black Creeks, American identity, and power
Gayle, Caleb
Paper Book
Caleb Gayle tells the story of the Creek Nation, a Native tribe that two centuries ago both owned slaves and accepted Black people as full members. A chief named Cow Tom - a former Black slave - created a treaty with the U.S. government which recognized Creek citizenship for its Black members. This...
Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years
Harjo, Joy
Paper Book
A magnificent selection of fifty poems to celebrate three-term US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo's fifty years as a poet. Over a long, influential career in poetry, Joy Harjo has been praised for her "warm, oracular voice" (John Freeman, Boston Globe) that speaks "from a deep and...
When the light of the world was subdued, our songs came through : a Norton anthology of Native nations poetry
Harjo, Joy
Paper Book
United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo gathers the work of more than 160 poets, representing nearly 100 indigenous nations, into one momentous volume. This landmark anthology celebrates the indigenous peoples of North America, the first poets of this country, whose literary traditions stretch back...
When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky
Verble, Margaret
Paper Book
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...
Whiskey tender : a memoir
Taffa, Deborah Jackson
Paper Book
Finalist for the National Book Award Longlisted for a Carnegie Medal for Excellence An Oprah Daily "Best New Book" and "Riveting Nonfiction and Memoir You Need to Read" * A New York Times "New Book to Read" * An Esquire "Best Nonfiction Book" * A Washington Post "Book to read this...
White horse
Wurth, Erika T.
Paper Book
"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...
Winter counts : a novel
Weiden, David Heska Wanbli
Paper Book
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 ...
Woman of Light
Fajardo-Anstine, Kali
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A "dazzling, cinematic, intimate, lyrical" (Roxane Gay) epic of betrayal, love, and fate that spans five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West, from the author of the National Book Award finalist Sabrina & Corina  ...

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