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There’s something for everybody on the summer reading lists by our expert panel of Native super-readers. From supernatural slashers to memoirs to poetry, there is an abundance of Native literature available right now to put in your backpack or beach bag. From the usual big names and a few hidden treasures, we’ll have ideas for you to stock up on the printed word.

GUESTS

Samantha Courchane (Chippewa Cree Tribe), library assistant and archive assistant at Stone Child College Library  

Desiderya J. Costello (Diné), library paraprofessional at the San Pedro Public Library in Albuquerque   

Amber McCrary (Diné), writer and poet

 

Reading lists from guests:

Desiderya suggests: 

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology 2023 edited by Shane Hawk and Throdore Van Alst Jr.

Blood Sisters 2023 by Vanessa Lillie

Winter Counts 2020 by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

Night of the Living Rez 2022 by Morgan Talty (I am really excited for his new book to come out, Fire Exit out on 6/4/24)

Anoka 2020 by Shane Hawk

 

Amber suggests: 

The Storyteller 2023 by Brandon Hobson

Firekeeper’s Daughter 2021 by Angeline Boulley

mother by m.s. RedCherries out 7/16/24

Removal Acts 2023 by Erin Marie Lynch

The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava out 8/6/24

Also mentioned Good Medicine 2021 by Tenille Campbell

 

Samantha suggests: 

Rock Your Mocs 2023 by Laurel Goodluck

Who Am I? 2023 by Julie Buchholtz

Why We Dance 2024 by Deidre Havrelock

Powwow Day 2022 by Traci Sorell

Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior 2023 by Carole Lindstrom

My Powerful Hair 2023 by Carole Lindstrom

 

Andi suggests: 

Survival Food: North Woods Stories by a Menominee Cook 2023 by Thomas Pecore Weso

Whiskey Tender 2024 by Deborah Jackson Taffa

Wandering Stars 2024 by Tommy Orange

Horns 2024 by Tiffany Midge

Moon of the Turning Leaves 2024 and Moon of the Crusted Snow 2018 by Waubgeshig Rice

Medicine Wheel for the Planet: a Journey Toward Personal and Ecological Healing by Dr. Jennifer Grenz out in the US 5/28/24

I was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones out 7/16/24

 

Break 1 Music: In the Balance (song) Sharon Burch (artist) Touch the Sweet Earth (album)

Break 2 Music: Fancy Dance (Song) Yellow Hammer (artist) Yellow Hammer (album)

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This time every year for the past 30 years the Sac and Fox Nation takes a day to celebrate a momentous U. S. Supreme Court decision affirming the tribe’s right to issue vehicle license plates to its citizens. The tribal tags are an important expression of sovereignty and it generates revenue for education and other programs. Dozens of tribes in and outside of Oklahoma now extend their authority to motor vehicle tags. But Oklahoma tribes say that authority is under fire like never before. Tribal citizens are having to defend what tribal officials say is an increase in targeted stops and fines by non-tribal law enforcement. We’ll talk about celebrating a victory for sovereignty and the constant effort required to keep it.

GUESTS

Gregory H. Bigler (Euchee, enrolled in the Muscogee Nation), author, tribal judge in Oklahoma, and attorney

Matthew Fletcher (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians), law professor at the University of Michigan Law School and author of the Turtle Talk blog

Audrey Rose Lee (Sac & Fox Nation), second chief of the Sac & Fox Nation

Robert Gifford (Cherokee Nation), Native American law attorney and tribal court judge

 

Break 1 Music: Turtle Island Reggae (song) Quese IMC & Cempoalli 20 (artist) Osahwuh (album)

Break 2 Music: 2 Hour Parking (song) Cris Derksen (artist) The Cusp (album)

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The graduating class of 2024 is taking one of the biggest steps in their academic careers. What’s next? We know that almost three quarters of Native students graduate high school. And college graduates reached an achievement only 1 in 5 Native people attain by age 25. We devote this show to the Native academic stars reaching a major educational milestone.

GUESTS

Dr. Waylon Decoteau (enrolled Standing Rock Sioux; Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians), Doctor of medicine from University of North Dakota

Megan Corn (enrolled Chickasaw Nation; Cherokee and Choctaw), University of North Dakota

Jaime Herrell (enrolled Cherokee Nation; European), recent graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts

Jaylon Romine (enrolled Muscogee Creek, Kiowa, and Chickasaw), recent graduate of Haskell Indian Nations University

 

Break 1 Music: Keep Rising (song) House of Shem (artist) Keep Rising (album)

Break 2 Music: 2 Hour Parking (song) Cris Derksen (artist) The Cusp (album)

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Following August’s U.S. Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action, several states are rushing to rid their higher education institutions of recruitment and inclusion programs that benefit Native students. On top of that, the botched update to the FAFSA process has many families confused about their ability to pay for college in the coming academic year. Native Americans already have among the lowest college enrollment rates. Higher education advocates worry the confluence of factors might erase any recent educational attainment gains.

GUESTS

Secretary Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education

Cheryl Crazy Bull (Sičháŋǧu Lakota), president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund

Julia Wakeford (Mvskoke and Yuchi), National Indian Education Association policy director

Dr. Corey Still (citizen of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians), senior research director at One Fire Associates, LLC

Break 1 Music: Unity (song) Native Roots (artist) Most High (album)

Break 2 Music: 2 Hour Parking (song) Cris Derksen (artist) The Cusp (album)

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A tribe once targeted for termination has established the first reservation in the state of Illinois. The U.S. Department of Interior transferred 130 acres of Northern Illinois land to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. The action comes 175 years after the federal government illegally sold the tribe’s Illinois land — ten times the current trust land size — when the chief was out of the state visiting family. We’ll hear about the new land transaction and other recent notable land achievements.

GUESTS

Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation)

Joe Heath, Onondaga Nation general counsel 

Sara K. Van Norman, founder of Van Norman Law

Samantha MJ Yang (Gabrieleño Tongva Band of Mission Indians), environmental biologist and ethnobotanist

Break 1 Music: “Sovereign Land” – Summit Dub Squad (song) The Native Movement Native Music Compilation (artist) Written In Blood (album)

Break 2 Music: 2 Hour Parking (song) Cris Derksen (artist) The Cusp (album)

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A big band made up of Native musicians is headlining a jazz festival at the Kennedy Center in the nation’s capital this weekend. The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band is billed as the only all-Native jazz band in the world. It’s made up of 16 of the music disciplined genre’s most notable and talented Native musicians, including co-director Delbert Anderson (Diné), Mali Obomsawin (Odanak Abenaki), and Ed Littlefield (Tlingit).

GUESTS

Julia Keefe (Nimiipuu), jazz singer, band leader, actor, and director of Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band

Delbert Anderson (Diné), jazz trumpet artist, composer, educator, and co-director of Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band

Break 1 Music: Water (song) Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band (artist)

Break 2 Music: Nd Waza Bat (song) Keith Secola (artist) Circle (album)

Links to Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band performances:

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Twenty-five year old Diné multimedia artist Kassie John is the newest cultural ambassador to wear the Miss Indian World crown. She is the first Navajo Miss Indian World in a decade. John hopes to inspire young people to tap into their own artistic talent to bring Indigenous stories to others. She’s a business owner and comes from a family with many strong ties to the powwow community. We’ll hear from her and some previous Miss Indian World winners about the power of Native royalty.

GUESTS

Kassie John (Diné), current Miss Indian World 2023-2024

Cheyenne Kippenberger (Seminole Tribe of Florida), former Miss Indian World 2019-2021 and owner of C.K. Consulting

Tori McConnell (Yurok), former Miss Indian World 2023-2024

Break 1 Music: Kinship Honor (K’é Biyiin) (song) Radmilla Cody (artist) K’é Hasin (album)

Break 2 Music: Nd Waza Bat (song) Keith Secola (artist) Circle (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:48 — 38.3MB) | Embed

Tribes can enact laws and take actions that relate to tribal land. But the ability for tribes to dictate what happens in the skies over that land is less clear. The Federal Aviation Administration is the main authority controlling the use of airspace. But the growing proliferation of drones and small personal aircraft is prompting researchers and some tribes to explore how to assert jurisdiction to what happens overhead. We’ll discuss some of the current limits and possibilities for exerting sovereign influence over tribal airspace.

GUESTS

Jacob Taylor (Curve Lake First Nation), CEO of Indigenous Aerospace

Jonathan Cordova, geography student at the University of Montana

Robert Gifford (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), Native American law attorney and tribal court judge

Shelly Knight, cyberinfrastructure facilitator at American Indian Higher Education Consortium

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) High Noon (artist) Generations (album)

Break 2 Music: Nd Waza Bat (song) Keith Secola (artist) Circle (album)