Best Native American Poetry

A fast-paced debut that draws upon reservation folklore, pop culture, fractured gospels, and her brother’s addiction to methamphetamine. Natalie Diaz: Natalie Diaz was born and raised on the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation in Needles, California.

A bestselling collection of stories and poems from literary icon Sherman Alexie. From National Book Award–winner Alexie comes a new collection of stories, poems, question and answer sequences, and hybrids of all three and beyond. In a penetrating voice that mixes humor with anger, Alexie pointedly asks, If it is true that children pay for the sins of their fathers, then is it also true that fathers pay for the sins of their children?

Now back in print—a classic work of Native American literature by the bestselling author of Ceremony Leslie Marmon Silko's groundbreaking book Storyteller , first published in 1981, blends original short stories and poetry influenced by the traditional oral tales that she heard growing up on the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico with autobiographical passages, folktales, family memories, and photographs. She has said that her writing has at its core “the attempt to identify what it is to be a half-breed or mixed-blood person.” As she grew up on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation, she learned the stories and culture of the Laguna people from her great-grandmother and other female relatives. Initially conceived as a comic story abut a mother’s attempts to keep her son, a war veteran, away from alcohol, Ceremony gradually transformed into an intricate meditation on mental disturbance, despair, and the power of stories and traditional culture as the keys to self-awareness and, eventually, emotional healing.

Following the success of her breakout poem, Sarah Kay releases her debut collection of poetry featuring work from the first decade of her career. In this collection she will give you moments so intimate and beautifully rendered you will come to know them as your own. Sarah Kay is a poet from New York City.

The book explores the relationship between femininity and body hair as well as the intersections of family, class, the immigrant experience, Latina identity, and much more, all through Lozada-Oliva’s unique lens and striking voice. Melissa Lozada-Oliva is a spoken word poet & educator living in Boston whose fierceness and charm have made her a poetry phenomenon, with her work appearing on Upworthy, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, and countless other media outlets.