Erika T. Wurth’s White Horse is a gritty, vibrant debut novel about an Indigenous woman who must face her past when she discovers a bracelet haunted by her mother’s spirit. That isn’t to say that we don’t still have a long way to go. In the United States, for example, October 12 is still officially known as Columbus Day. Many people have explained why this is offensive and a celebration of colonization, including Professor Susan C. Faircloth in this great article. On October 7, Biden released a proclamation declaring October 10 Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This state of things is reflected in publishing: Indigenous authors have a much harder time getting published, let alone getting work in publishing. At the same time, there has been a greater percentage of books published by Indigenous authors within the last five years than ever before. Many of these books are novels: in this post, I focus on debut novels published since 2020. They span a variety of genres and topics, but they have one thing in common: you’ll be glad you read them. Shall we? Looking for more books by Indigenous authors? How about poetry?
