15 Popular Indigenous Books from 2020

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, Spirit Run documents the author’s experience with a First Nations movement called the Peace and Dignity Journeys. Noé Álvarez joined a group of marathon runners who, like himself, were all fleeing their own difficult beginnings. Through journeying across mountains, deserts, and cities, and through the Mexican territory his family hails from, Álvarez forms new relationships with running, the land, and his own heritage.

This book has won several awards, including being a New York Times Best Seller, the Amazon Best Book of 2020, the Washington Post Best Book of 2020, and more.

Based on the life of the author’s grandfather, the novel stars Thomas Wazhashk, the night watchman at a jewel bearing plant in North Dakota in 1953. The book unfolds around the “emancipation” bill, in which the government was attempting to terminate treaties with the Indigenous peoples and threaten their livelihoods. However, the story explores the individual lives of the characters with tenderness, elegance, and sly humour. Erdrich crafted an exquisite world where the characters grapple with the best and the worst of human nature.

This Town Sleeps is a tale that winds elegance, grit, queer romance, and the supernatural all into one. Marion Lafournier, a mid-20s Ojibwe gay man, begins a relationship with a closeted white man, and not long afterwards he summons the spirit of a dog who sets him on the path of solving a murder. While unravelling the mysteries of the present, he is also forced to entangle his own relationship with his family heritage and his culture.

In this memoir, Anishinaabe author Duncan McCue takes us on a journey to Northern Quebec. When he was 17, he moved from the south to  join a James Bay Cree family in a one-room hunting cabin in the isolated wilderness. The Shoe Boy is a contemplative coming-of-age novel. Through this story of transformation, he reflects on his own identity, the relationship that indigenous peoples have with the land, and the challenges that urban indigenous people face.

The tragedy of residential schools continues to impact the lives of Indigenous people today. Michelle Good’s novel explores the aftermath of this trauma.

After being released from residential school, the five protagonists have hardly any life skills to speak of. They soon find their way to the seedy Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. The five of them each take a different route through their adult lives, from joining the American Indian movement, to struggling with addiction, to motherhood. The heroes are forced to come to terms with their past and are ultimately able to find their way to the future.

Although Lois Beardslee’s book of poetry focuses on peoples of the Great Lakes area, much of her work is universally applicable to Indigenous peoples across the world. Words Like Thunder explores contemporary topics such as climate change, and also transforms the mundane into the sacred.

The core of Beardslee’s work is inherent love towards Indigenous peoples. She emphasizes that Indigenous people are competent, wonderful, and worthy. Words Like Thunder is unapologetic and a celebration of her identity as a woman of colour.

While Indigenous peoples have suffered at the hands of church-run residential schools, many First Nations people identify as Christian, today. As both a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation and a Christian, author Kaitlin Curtice has a unique perspective on her culture and on her faith.

Native connects Curtice’s faith with her heritage in a positive way. Through poetry and imagery, she reveals how her faith and cultural identity are intertwined. Ultimately, she encourages listening to each others’ stories and embracing a diverse future.