Sinister Graves by Marcie R. Rendon
#native voices, character driven fiction, midwestern fiction, Minnesota Fiction, Minnesota interest, mystery, Native American Authors, Native Voices, sense of place Lin Salisbury #native voices, character driven fiction, midwestern fiction, Minnesota Fiction, Minnesota interest, mystery, Native American Authors, Native Voices, sense of place Lin Salisbury

Sinister Graves by Marcie R. Rendon

Cash Blackbear is one of my favorite anti-heroes — a brash beer-drinking, pool-playing Ojibwe woman who has aged out of the foster care system.

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Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer
#education, #native voices, historical, Minnesota interest, Native American Authors, native american history, Native Voices Lin Salisbury #education, #native voices, historical, Minnesota interest, Native American Authors, native american history, Native Voices Lin Salisbury

Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer

Living on the North Shore of Lake Superior, a mere twenty miles from the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, commonly known as the Grand Portage Anishinaabe, I have a responsibility to learn and understand more about the first people that inhabited this area. They are my friends and neighbors, and I often don’t verbalize the questions I have because I don’t want to say anything offensive or reveal my ignorance. Treuer’s book is a straightforward path through what could be a minefield, one that to be honest, creates anxiety and for me and impairs genuine connection and communication.

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Firekeepers Daughter by Angeline Boulley
#literarynovel, #native voices, addiction, character driven fiction, family drama, generational trauma, Native American Authors Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, #native voices, addiction, character driven fiction, family drama, generational trauma, Native American Authors Lin Salisbury

Firekeepers Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Part thriller, mystery, love story, indigenous fiction, and cultural commentary, Firekeepers Daughter grabbed me by the throat and pulled me along at breakneck speed.

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Seven Aunts by Staci Lola Drouillard
#native voices, author interview, biography, family drama, feminist literature, generational trauma, historical, Memoir, Minnesota interest, Native American Authors, native american history, Native Voices, nonfiction, women's history, women's issues Lin Salisbury #native voices, author interview, biography, family drama, feminist literature, generational trauma, historical, Memoir, Minnesota interest, Native American Authors, native american history, Native Voices, nonfiction, women's history, women's issues Lin Salisbury

Seven Aunts by Staci Lola Drouillard

Reading SEVEN AUNTS, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for these women and the author’s commitment to truth telling. Drouillard writes with such integrity. I cared deeply about the aunties, and I didn’t want to leave them. Extraordinary women leading ordinary lives; they lived in a world that did not recognize their contributions, but the lessons of their lives changed the world for future generations.

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The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
#literarynovel, #native voices, Black Lives Matter, character driven fiction, domestic fiction, family drama, literary fiction, Minnesota Fiction, Minnesota interest, Native American Authors, Native Voices, political fiction, race, sense of place, social justice Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, #native voices, Black Lives Matter, character driven fiction, domestic fiction, family drama, literary fiction, Minnesota Fiction, Minnesota interest, Native American Authors, Native Voices, political fiction, race, sense of place, social justice Lin Salisbury

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

Erdrich has written another masterpiece. THE SENTENCE is a compelling read that serves as a time capsule. Maybe one day we will look back and remember the Summer of 2020 – not just as a period of loss and trauma – but as the antidote to it. E.B. White famously wrote that a writer must not only reflect and interpret the world but must also sound the alarm. THE SENTENCE does just that.

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We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World, Edited by Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura
#native voices, Black Lives Matter, essays, Global politics, Minnesota interest, Native American Authors, nonfiction, poetry, political, race, social justice Lin Salisbury #native voices, Black Lives Matter, essays, Global politics, Minnesota interest, Native American Authors, nonfiction, poetry, political, race, social justice Lin Salisbury

We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World, Edited by Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura

At the dawn of summer 2020, with the world spinning from the Covid 19 pandemic, Minneapolis went into a nose dive after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. In the weeks and months that followed, Minneapolis became the epicenter of worldwide demands for justice. In a compelling new collection, WE ARE MEANT TO RISE, edited by Carolyn Holbrook and David Mura, Indigenous writers and writers of color bear witness to one of the most unsettling years in the history of the United States.

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The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
#literarynovel, #native voices, author interview, historical fiction, Minnesota interest, Native American Authors, native american history, Native Voices, Nature, Sense of Place Fiction, women's history Lin Salisbury #literarynovel, #native voices, author interview, historical fiction, Minnesota interest, Native American Authors, native american history, Native Voices, Nature, Sense of Place Fiction, women's history Lin Salisbury

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

In her profoundly moving first novel, THE SEED KEEPER, Diane Wilson tells the story of Rosalie Iron Wing and her family’s struggle to preserve their cultural heritage. Flashing back and forth in time from Rosalie’s present day, to her early childhood, to the lives of her ancestors, Wilson reveals the devastation wreaked by white settlers on the family’s way of life.

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Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
#education, #native voices, essays, Native American Authors, native american history, Native Voices, nature writing, nonfiction, sense of place Lin Salisbury #education, #native voices, essays, Native American Authors, native american history, Native Voices, nature writing, nonfiction, sense of place Lin Salisbury

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Kimmerer writes lyrically, with the heart and eye of a poet, and the mind of a botanist. BRAIDING SWEETGRASS should be required reading. How do we get back the connections we have lost? Whatever it takes, I feel as though Robin Wall Kimmerer’s BRAIDING SWEETGRASS will be an element in that confluence, that coming together again, for me. The problem and the solution both laid out before us in this beautiful collection.

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Night Flying Woman by Ignatia Broker
#native voices, historical, Native American Authors, native american history, women's history #native voices, historical, Native American Authors, native american history, women's history

Night Flying Woman by Ignatia Broker

I read Night Flying Woman after reading Staci Drouillard’s Walking the Old Road and Louise Erdrich’s The Night Watchman. This trifecta of books left me feeling ashamed of this part of our American history, yet in awe of the spirit and resilience of the Anishinaabe people. If you are interested in Native American history, I recommend reading these companion books for a deeper experience.

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The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
#literarynovel, historical fiction, Native American Authors, native american history #literarynovel, historical fiction, Native American Authors, native american history

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

Erdrich’s novels are full of heart; every character in Night Watchman is richly drawn. The heartbreak of the historic displacement of Native Americans and the shame of a government hellbent on taking their land, resources, and identities stands in sharp relief against the integrity and courage of Thomas and the Turtle Mountain council as they fight to retain rights established through treaties made in good faith “for as long as the grasses shall grow, and the rivers run.”

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Walking the Old Road, A People's History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe by Staci Lola Drouillard
historical, Native American Authors, native american history, Uncategorized historical, Native American Authors, native american history, Uncategorized

Walking the Old Road, A People's History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe by Staci Lola Drouillard

In Walking the Old Road, A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe, author Staci Lola Drouillard tells the stories of a community of 200 Anishinaabe families at the turn of the century. Beginning in 1987, Drouillard had the prescience to begin interviewing Chippewa City elders preserving for future generations what would have certainly been a lost history. Through these first-person accounts, Drouillard evokes the place, the people, and the way of life that formed the spirit of our community.

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