Diversifying my Bookshelf: Indigenous Authors

With everything that has been going on in the United States and essentially the world (aka. the calling out of racism both in police brutality, systemic structures and our everyday lives) I thought that it would be a good idea to try to actively learn more about how I can combat racism in my life. So I started this book called Me & White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad. And when she is talking about White Superiority (the belief that white people are inherently better than Black people) she mentions: “primarily reading books by white authors”. And I went hmmm, I feel like I’ve recently done better with diversifying my bookshelf, I should see how I’m doing. And I went to Goodreads and made a new shelf and…

It turns out that in the past few years I have read 21 books by BIPOC authors, 14 by Black authors and 1(!) by an Indigenous author. And that is shameful. I felt so terrible after seeing that. And so you know what I did? I went and did some digging, I ordered some books by BIPOC authors. And I’m going to do better. Maybe by the end of the year I’ll do another check in and see how I’ve improved.

Basically, here is a mid-year check in:

• This year I have read 38 books, X number of which are written by…
  • BIPOC Authors: 12
    • Black Authors: 8
    • Indigenous Authors: 1
    • Asian Authors: 1
    • Authors of Colour: 2
  • White Authors: 26

Yeah, thats… not good. So, I’ve making a commitment to do better, and only read books by white authors that I already own. The only new books that I buy this year will be by Black authors, Indigenous authors, or authors of colour. Below I’ve made a list of books that I would like to read by Indigenous authors in the future (in this year might be ambitious, but they are all on my Goodreads to read shelf). nîtisânak I have already read (review coming soon!) and I own A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, Moon of the Crusted Snow, Starlight and Marrow Thieves already.

Books that I have read or am planning to read by Indigenous authors:

• nîtisânak by Lindsay Nixon
• A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
• Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
• Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
• Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga
• Midnight Sweatlodge by Waubgeshig Rice
• Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
• Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson
• Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
• From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
• Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
• Starlight by Richard Wagamese
• The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King
• Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition by Glen Sean Coulthard
• Legacy: Trauma, Story, and Indigenous Healing by Suzanne Methot
• This Place: 150 Years Retold by Various Authors
• Holy Wild by Gwen Benaway

If you know of any good books that I should check out or add to this list, please let me know!! I really want to expand and diversify my bookshelf, and I encourage you to do the same!

Have a great day ducks, and I’ll be back soon!
~Mon