Photo courtesy of Alessio Jacona via Wikimedia Commons. Native American Heritage Month is recognized in November of every year to uplift Native voices.
By Amelia Potter ’26
Staff Writer
Content warning: This article mentions racialized violence.
November was Native American Heritage Month, described by the National Congress of American Indians as a month “to celebrate rich and diverse cultures, traditions and histories and to acknowledge the important contributions of Native people.” It is also a time to bring attention to “the unique challenges Native people have faced both historically and in the present, and the ways in which tribal citizens have worked to conquer these challenges.” Below are three recent works of fiction to read by Indigenous authors.
‘A Snake Falls to Earth’ by Darcie Little Badger
“A Snake Falls to Earth” follows the connection between Nina, a teenage Lipan Apache girl, and Oli, a “cottonmouth person from the spirit world” when both are in need of support. The narrative touches on themes of climate change and the need for language revitalization. A book review by Kirkus called it a “coming-of-age story that beautifully combines tradition and technology for modern audiences.” Little Badger “draws on traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure to weave an unforgettable tale of monsters, magic and family,” Goodreads writes. With a writing style that “evokes the timeless feeling of listening to traditional oral storytelling,” Kirkus continues, “A Snake Falls to Earth” brings readers into “two richly constructed worlds.”
Little Badger grew up in Texas and is a member of the Lipan Apache Tribe. She earned a degree in geosciences at Princeton University, then later a doctoral degree in oceanography at Texas A&M University. Her bestselling novel “Elatsoe” won the Locus Award for debut novel and was named one of the “Best 100 Fantasy Novels of All Time” by TIME, as reported by the National Book Foundation. Her book “A Snake Falls to Earth” won the Newbery Honor, the Ignyte Award, a Nebula Award and was also featured on the longlist of the National Book Awards.
‘The Sentence’ by Louise Erdrich
“The Sentence” is set in a bookstore in Minneapolis from November 2019 until 2020 according to Goodreads and follows protagonist Tookie as she is haunted by the spirit of an annoying and recently deceased customer, Flora. Although it is a ghost story, “The Sentence,” the New Orleans Review writes, is “primarily a pandemic story, illustrating how the onset of COVID-19 affects Tookie, her husband and her stepdaughter as well as her family of bookstore coworkers.” The story also chronicles the “violent aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, which Erdrich uses to highlight the integrity of Native and Black solidarity.” It is an “absorbing and unquiet novel,” according to NPR, as it recounts a year of reckoning, isolation and grief.
Louise Erdrich is the winner of several literary awards and grants, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her 2020 novel, “The Night Watchman.” She was born in Little Falls, Minnesota, and currently runs Birchbark Books in Minneapolis where the haunting of “The Sentence” takes place. Erdrich is part of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and much of her writing focuses on the Native American experience. As claimed by Goodreads, “The Sentence” is as “rich, emotional and profound as anything Louise Errich has written.”
‘The Seed Keeper’ by Diane Wilson
“The Seed Keeper” tells the story of the character Rosalie Iron Wing, who is put into foster care following the disappearance of her father. She later returns to her childhood home, this time as a widow, where she begins then “to confront the past, on a search for family, identity and a community where she can finally belong.” Goodreads describes the work as a “haunting novel spanning several generations,” which follows “a Dakota family’s struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most.” Wilson’s writing weaves together the “voices of four indelible women,” Overdrive writes, and creates “a beautifully told story of reawakening, of remembering our original relationship to the seeds and, through them, to our ancestors.”
Wilson lives in Shafer, Minnesota, and serves as the executive director for the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, a “national coalition of tribes and organizations working to create sovereign food systems for Native people,” Milkweed Editions explains. She is of Mdewakanton descent and has published numerous essays and other award-winning books, such as “Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past” which won a Minnesota Book Award in 2006 and “Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life,” a nonfiction work which earned the 2012 Barbara Sudler Award from History Colorado. Her most recent book, “The Seed Keeper,” won the 2022 Minnesota Book Award for Fiction.