Happy Indigenous Peoples Day!
I wrote extensively about Indigenous Peoples Day last year. A few of my posts included:
Indigenous People’s Day
Water is Life
Why I Care, and What is at Stake
American Indians in (Children’s) Literature
Putting a Face to the Name
This year I wanted to share what I think is one of the best ways you can learn about indigenous people across the world, their histories and struggles, which is to read books by indigenous people about indigenous people.
Sherman Alexie (You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian) Louise Erdrich (The Round House, The Birchbark House) and Leslie Marmon Silko (Ceremony, Storyteller) are three whose works I have read and that I would recommend as a starting point.
Two other novels I’d recommend are J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians and Doris Pilkington’s Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, both of which are haunting and inspiring.
Within the next few years it looks like more and more cities in the U.S. will be recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day as a national holiday, which makes me so happy! Recognizing indigenous peoples so their pasts do not disappear with history is really important, even if you don’t live in the United States.
What are some of your favorite books about indigenous peoples? Or other minority writers?
Share away!
