I'm always reading, but during the summer months, I try to take in texts I normally don't make time for.  In the past, this has involved Indigenous fiction. This year, it now includes Native poetry.  Two books at the top of my list are from a pair of Native literaries recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and Poetry respectively: Turtle Mountain Chippewa author, Louise Erdrich for her novel, The Watchmen, and Fort Mojave poet, Natalie Diaz for Postcolonial Love Poem.

It's been more than half a century since an Indigenous writer has won a Pulitzer.  For the longest time, Kiowa author, N. Scott Momaday was the first and only Native to take such top honors for House Made of Dawn in 1969.  Back then, the formula for Native fiction involved a heavy dose of mysticism for white readers.  It was a trend that, unfortunately, was difficult to break.  

During the 1970s and '80s, writers like Leslie Marmon Silko, Linda Hogan, and Paula Gunn Allen were swept into a "Native Renaissance" of writers evoking such romanticism.  But this "renaissance" would soon become widely criticized, mostly by Indigenous scholars who took umbrage with the white professor's use of the word which, in their minds, suggested that somehow there had been a lack of Indigenous storytelling, prior.  Of course, the Indigenous narrative was only absent to the New York City publishers who, for decades, had been overlooking Native authors. But even these authors were blamed for exacerbating a wave of "tourist" experiences for the masses in revealing Indigenous struggle and strife.  Few of those early writers have managed to survive these tides in the literary world.  Erdrich is one of them.  Muscogee poet, Joy Harjo who is also the incumbent United States Poet Laureate, is another.

Whether your summer plans involve sunning on a beach or sinking into a woodsy hammock, chances are it will involve a book. Indigenously has curated a collection of reads-some of them buzzy and new this season; others more classic or mood-fueled.  A crime-laced page turner, anyone? Here's the book that everyone's talking about:

The Night Watchman, Louise Erdrich: Based on the extraordinary life of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louise Erdrich’s  grandfather who worked as a night watchman and carried the fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Washington, D.C., this powerful novel explores themes of love and death with lightness and gravity and unfolds with the elegant prose, sly humor, and depth of feeling of a master craftsman. (Published March 2021, Harper Collins)

And the book with incredible staying power: 

Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmer: A New York Times Bestseller, A Washington Post Bestseller and a Best Essay Collection of the Decade by Literary Hub, Citizen Potawatomi Nation botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. (Published October 2013, Milkweed Editions)

 New Nonfiction: 

Pollution is Colonialism, Max Liboiron: Focusing on plastic pollution, the book models an anticolonial scientific practice aligned with Indigenous, particularly Métis, concepts of land, ethics, and relations to examine a framework for understanding scientific research methods as practices that align with or against colonization. (Published May 2021, Duke University Press)

Crime Fiction, Young Adult Style: 

Firekeepers Daughter, Angeline Boulley: It may be YA but this instant New York Times bestseller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her Ojibwe community captured the attention of President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama who will adapt the thriller for Netflix through their production company, Higher Ground. (Published March 2021, Henry Holt & Company)

On the lighter side: 

We Had a Little Real Estate Problem, Kliph Nesteroff: In We Had a Little Real Estate Problem, acclaimed comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff focuses on one of comedy's most significant and little-known stories: how, despite having been denied representation in the entertainment industry, Native Americans have influenced and advanced the art form. (Published February 2021, Simon and Schuster)

As for me, I'll be taking in some of Diaz's poetry once I start passing through Canada and its swath of forest. A quick travel update: we met some car trouble in Witchita, Kansas and have been here waiting on repairs all week. Finding a bookstore that wasn't Christian-themed was a challenge and I apparently got super lucky grabbing the last copy of Postcolonial Love Poems.  ✨  

Yours from the heartland this week,

Number of Natives who have won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry: 1

Total number of languages spoken by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Natalie Diaz: 3

Number of continents Diaz played pro-basketball: 2

Exact number of novels by Pulitzer Prize in Fiction recipient, Louise Erdrich: 17

Number of years before a Native was awarded a Pulitzer Prize: 52

Number of years since the last Pulitzer was awarded to a Native: 52

Total honorary degrees held by Pulitzer Prize in Fiction winner, N. Scott Momaday: 12

Number of readily accessible films about Momaday: 6

Number of 2021 Pulitzer Cartooning finalists, including Marty Two Bulls, Sr: 3

Total years since the Pulitzer Board chose not to name a winning cartoonist: 48

Number of times the Pulitzer Board chose not to award winners since 2000: 5

Exact number of characters who journey to the Oakland pow wow in There, There: 12

Ranking of Therese Marie Mailhot's Heart Berries on New York Times Bestseller list: 14

Number of women who openly accused Sherman Alexie of #MeToo abuse: 10 

Total months before Alexie declined the Carnegie Medal after he was #MeToo'd: 1

Exact number of virtual book club meetings hosted by Well-Read Native: 8

Sample a Meeting:

Thursday, July 15, 7PM CT

Next week, author Jesmyn Ward (Black, Choctaw) will be discussing her memoir, Men We Reaped (Bloomsbury, 2013).  

Find Zoom information at wellreadnative.com or on Facebook