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Halloween is the right time to dive into new spooky books by Native authors. Ramona Emerson’s new sequel, Exposure, checks back in with her character Rita Todacheene, a Navajo forensic photographer introduced in Emerson’s debut novel, Shutter, who continues to be haunted by crime victims. Dark and menacing supernatural entities follow Choctaws along the infamous Trail of Tears to Oklahoma in Devon Mihesuah’s The Bone Picker, a collection of fictional stories set in real-life histories. Nathan Adler co-edited a collection of scary stories along with Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation and Saugeen First Nation) called Zegaajimo: Indigenous Horror Fiction. Hunkpapa Lakota humorist and author Tiffany Midge’s newest collection of poetry, Horns, weaves horror through her creative use of language and satire. These authors join us for a conversation about horror in Native literature.

GUESTS

Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler (Anishinaabe and member of Lac de Mille Lacs First Nation), writer, author, and editor

Devon Mihesuah (Choctaw), writer, historian, and the Cora Lee Beers Price Teaching Professor at the University of Kansas

Ramona Emerson (Diné), writer and filmmaker

Tiffany Midge (Hunkpapa Lakota), poet, humorist, and author

 

Break 1 Music: Halloween (song) Blood Dance (artist) Halloween (album)

Break 2 Music: Ksm Xaayda (song) Saltwater Hank (artist) Siip’nsk (album)

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Native land is the medium Cherokee journalist and writer Rebecca Nagle uses to convey the long fight for justice and accountability. By the Fire We Carry traces a detailed history from before the Trail of Tears to the current arguments in the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court, as Native Americans fight to retain what was always inherently theirs and win back what was taken by force and fraud by the U.S. Government. Nagel is the creator of the acclaimed This Land podcast that found a broad audience for the complex topics of Native sovereignty and jurisdiction, and the forces constantly working to dismantle them.

GUEST

Rebecca Nagle (member of the Cherokee Nation), author of By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-long Fight for Justice on Native Land

 

Break 1 Music: Ghost [Stripped] (song) Sierra Spirit (artist)

Break 2 Music: Creator (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

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The main character in Chickasaw writer Danica Nava’s debut novel gets into trouble for making some questionable claims about her Chickasaw identity to try and get ahead in the working world. Cherokee citizen Christina Berry writes about an Austin woman’s sometimes funny, sometimes heart wrenching desire to start a family. And Karen Kay’s historical novel explores an interracial connection on the mid-1800s Great Plains frontier. What each of these books has in common is the quest for true love. They also have honest, complex, and engaging portrayals of Native characters written by Native authors. We’ll hear from them about their work and Native representation in modern romance literature.

GUESTS

Danica Nava (Chickasaw), author of The Truth According to Ember

Karen Kay (Choctaw), historical romance author

Christina Berry (citizen of the Cherokee Nation), contemporary romance author

Break 1 Music: Death Row Love Affair (song) Tom Wilson (artist)

Break 2 Music: Love Affair (song) Pepper (artist) In with the Old (album)

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As an Ojibwe language teacher and expert on Native American history and issues, Anton Treuer has penned more than a dozen books that are required reading for some Native studies college courses. But Treuer turns to fiction in his newest work, Where Wolves Don’t Die. His first novel is for young readers and focuses on Ezra, a young Ojibwe teen living in Minneapolis. A serious crime prompts his family to move him to live with his grandfather on the Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation. There he encounters new insights into his family and culture as he navigates the consequences of circumstances beyond his control. Treuer joins us as the Native Bookshelf featured author.

Break 1 Music: Little Sunflower (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

Break 2 Music: Our Mother the Earth [Feat. Dr. Duke Redbird] (song) Sultans of String (artist)

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In Métis author Conor Kerr’s new novel, Prairie Edge, a herd of stolen bison get tangled up in a scheme orchestrated by a fiery Indigenous activist and her aimless young companion. The stunt turns dangerous in a hurry. Kerr’s story dives into two very different Indigenous communities in Edmonton, Alberta through protagonists, Grey and Ezzy, who share a drive for positive change and reconnecting with the land. With both satire and sorrow, Prairie Edge builds readers’ understanding of Indigenous resilience and indignation. Kerr joins us for this installment of Native Bookshelf, our feature on current Indigenous books and authors.

Break 1 Music: Blueberry Hill (song) Métis Fiddler Quartet (artist) Northwest Voyage Nord Ouest (album)

Break 2 Music: She’s Got the Rhythm and I Got the Blues (song) Davis Mitchell (artist) Country Road (album)

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Two of the newest National Book Awards winners reinterpret conventional views of their homelands through their unique, Indigenous lenses. Yale historian Dr. Ned Blackhawk (Western Shoshone) reexamines five centuries of U.S. history in his new book Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History. He explores Native people’s overlooked role from the arrival of Spanish explorers to self-determination. And a collection of experimental and visual poems, from unincorporated territory [åmot], by Dr. Craig Santos Perez (Chamoru) recounts recollections of his homeland of Guam. Åmot is the medicine he invokes to heal colonial traumas. We’ll speak with both of the authors about these new works and the Indigenous histories they rediscover.

GUESTS

Dr. Ned Blackhawk (Western Shoshone), Howard R. Lamar Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University and author of Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History 

Dr. Craig Santos Perez (Chamoru), author of from unincorporated territory [åmot]

Break 1 Music: Groove Warrior (song) Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) Manitou (album)

Break 2 music: The Lake (song) Sunburnt Stone (artist) El Navaho (album)