51 New Books to Read for Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. To join in the celebrations, we’ve sorted through our recent archives to highlight new books by Native American writers.
There is a lot to explore here: from historical fiction to YA fantasy, memoirs to mystery-thrillers, short story collections to National Book Award nominees. For those who enjoy the darker side of contemporary fiction, consider these books by Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians) or Erika T. Wurth (White Horse), which explore shadowy places between noir and horror. U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo gathers the work of more than 160 Indigenous poets with the acclaimed anthology When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through.
Scroll over the book cover images below for more details, and add anything interesting to your Want to Read shelf.
Do you have any reading recommendations for Native American Heritage Month? Tell us about your picks in the comments below!
And be sure to check out more recent articles.
And be sure to check out more recent articles.
Comments Showing 1-50 of 168 (168 new)
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Heather
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Nov 01, 2022 03:01AM

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Yes, Braiding Sweetgrass is a beautiful masterpiece. Shocked it wasn't on this list




Perfect November/onset of winter reading.
And the sequel's coming out next year.

Reading “Braiding Sweetgrass” now. Beautiful book! I’m surprised it was not on this list!

I truly believe Ceremony is a magnum opus. STUNNING work.


YES one of my favorite books!!! Dimaline definitely belongs on this list. Hunting by Stars was excellent, too, but maybe they dont' want to list sequels. Still no excuse for leaving off Empire of Wild.

Yeah, Dimaline is great, but like me, she’s CDN, and the list certainly favours Americans. 😊

Yeah, Dimaline is great, but like me, she’s CDN, and the list certainly favours Americans. 😊"
I did wonder if that's why they left her off. I don't know all the authors on this list well enough to know if they are all from US and none from Canada. If that's the case, then that's the answer. They decided - perhaps non unfairly - that Native Americans reside in the US only. It is a US heritage month, after all.

Yes, I agree. Other than that it would have been nice if this list had been sorted by genre. Easier to find interesting reads!


Five Little Indians was really good! I think it should be the kind of book people read in school.

Yeah, Dimaline is great, but like me, she’s CDN, and the list certainly favours Americ..."
We’ll, Theresa Maillot is CDN, and she’s also from my nation, but her book is American.

The Break is soooooo good! Have you read The Strangers?"
👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

Perfect November/onset of winter reading.
And the sequel's coming out next year."
👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

O, yeah, all excellent choices. :-)


I believe this list is Indigenous book's who released this year. That's what the "New" means for this list. You might be able to search out list on goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/list?ref=na... for older titles by Indigenous authors.

I'd love a list of older books! And perhaps split up by fiction and non-fiction.

Completely agree!!