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Contact Ashley Edwards, Indigenous Initiatives and Instruction Librarian, with any questions.
These authors and titles are only a selection of Indigenous authorship, this page will be updated as new works come into the library. For more help in finding Indigenous authors and scholarship, check our Finding Indigenous Voices guide.
For further resources explore the University of Calgary's guide, Indigenous Literature for Learning.
Fiction
Bearskin diary, Carol Rose Daniels, Cree and Dene
Themes: 60s scoop
Green grass, running water, Thomas King, Cherokee
Themes: interwoven worldviews
Indian horse, Richard Wagamese, Ojibwe
Themes: addiction, healing, residential schools
Jonny Appleseed (print or online), Joshua Whitehead, Oji-Cree
Themes: kinship, LGBTQ+
Monkey beach, Eden Robinson, Haisla and Heiltsuk
Themes: Haisla oral history
Nobody cries at bingo, Dawn Dumont, Plains Cree
Themes: kinship, life on reservations
Son of a Trickster, Eden Robinson, Haisla and Heiltsuk
Themes: environment, family
Poetry
Burning in this midnight dream (print or online), Louise Bernice Halfe, Cree
Themes: reconnecting with traditions, residential schools
Hope matters (physical or online), Lee Maracle (Stó:lō), Columpa Bobb (Tsleil-Waututh), Tania Carter (Stó:lō)
Themes: family, feminism, reconciliation
Ndn coping mechanisms, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Driftpile Cree
Themes: LGBTQ+, Indigenous politics
This accident of being lost, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg
Themes: Indigenous womanhood, reconnecting to traditions
Witness, I am, Gregory Scofield, Métis
Themes: belonging, identity, missing and murdered Indigenous women, Scofield’s mixed ancestry
Drama
Almighty Voice and his wife, Daniel David Moses, Delaware from Six Nations of the Grand River
Themes: positionality, residential schools
Princess Pocahontas and the blue spots, Monique Mojica, Kuna and Rappahannock
Themes: Indigenous womanhood, tackling of stereotypes and myths
The unnatural and accidental women, Marie Clements, Métis
Themes: missing and murdered Indigenous women
Non-fiction
A mind spread out on the ground, Alicia Elliott, Tuscarora
Themes: memoir, mental health, poverty
Broken circle: The dark legacy of Indian residential schools, Theodore Fontaine, Sagkeeng
Themes: memoir, residential schools
From the ashes, Jesse Thistle, Métis, Cree
Themes: education, memoir
Heart berries: A memoir, Terese Marie Mailhot, Stó:lō
Themes: memoir, mental health
Mamaskatch: A Cree coming of age, Darrel J. McLeod, Cree
Themes: memoir
My conversations with Canadians, Lee Maracle, Stó:lō
Themes: feminism, paternalism, reconciliation
The inconvenient Indian: A curious account of Native People in North America, Thomas King, Cherokee
Themes: land, positionality, tackling of stereotypes and myths, resistance
They called me number one: Secrets and survival at an Indian residential school, Bev Sellars, Xat’sull
Themes: memoir, residential schools
Children’s Fiction
Arctic stories, Michael Kusugak, Inuit
Themes: childhood memories, residential schools
As long as the rivers flow, Larry Loyie, Cree
Themes: residential schools
My name is Seepeetza, Shirley Sterling, Nlaka'pamux
Themes: residential schools
Owls see clearly at night/Lii yiiboo nayaapiwak lii swer: A Michif alphabet/L'alfabet di Michif, Julie Flett, Cree-Métis
Themes: Métis language (Mischif)
The orange shirt story by Phyllis Webstad, Shuswap
Themes: residential schools
The water walker, Joanne Robertson, Anishinaabe
Themes: environment
Shi-shi-etko, Nicola Campbell, Nłeʔkepmx, Syilx and Métis
Themes: residential schools
Sweetest Kulu, Celina Kalluk, Inuit
Themes: bedtime stories, Inuit values
When we were alone, David Alexander Robertson, Swampy Cree
Themes: residential schools
Recommended authors
Some authors write across genres, we recommend checking out their titles.
Thomas King, Cherokee
Lee Maracle, Stó:lō
Eden Robinson, Haisla and Heiltsuk
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg
Eve Tuck, Unangax̂
Recommended poets
Billy Ray Belcourt, Driftpile Cree
Lee Maracle, Stó:lō
Gregory Scofield, Métis