An observation: Most of the books written by Native writers are about Native people of the present day. There's a few works of historical fiction and a few traditional stories, but for the most part, the stories they are moved to tell are best described as realistic fiction. Something to think about!
Posts to this site are fewer than usual. I'm home (Nambe Pueblo), spending time with family and friends. I spent most of yesterday with Evelina Zuni Lucero. She teaches creative writing at the Institute for American Indian Art. She's from Isleta and Ohkay Owingeh. You can read about her novel and other writing here. I'll write about her book Night Sky, Morning Star later this summer. We went to see a new exhibit, Comic Art Indigene, at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture. It makes an important point. Though much of America thinks of Native people as suspended in time and days of long ago, we're very much part of the present day. We are critical of representations of us that America loves to love. The exhibit demonstrates all of that. Excellent work to be seen! If you're in Santa Fe this summer, do visit the exhibit.
Established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books. Dr. Jean Mendoza joined AICL as a co-editor in 2016.
