12 New 2SLGBTQIAA+ Indigenous Books

Steph Harper is determined to become the first Cherokee astronaut. Her ambition will stretch not only her own capabilities but also her relationships with her mother, Hannah; her sister, Kayla; and her college girlfriend, Delia. Over the course of three decades, we follow Steph and the three women closest to her as she strives to journey to the stars. Meanwhile, Kayla becomes an Indigenous social media influencer and Delia fights to reclaim her identity after being removed from her Cherokee family as a child.

Eliana Ramage is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

From the author of A History of My Brief Body and A Minor Chorus comes a short story collection centering Indigenous people, including stories about queer Indigenous men. They explore dating apps, love, estrangement, prison, hauntings, and more. Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon of the Turning Leaves, says, “Coexistence filled my heart and lifted my spirit. There are few writers who can authentically capture the beauty and complexity of Indigenous existence both on the rez and in the city like Billy-Ray Belcourt. This book is a resolute proclamation of resilient Indigenous humanity and the nuance and richness we all embody. The stories weave and enrich on journeys that are both familiar and informative. Coexistence is a powerful celebration and a gift to the world.”

Billy-Ray Belcourt is from Driftpile Cree Nation.

Green Fuse Burning is a novella about Rita, an artist mourning her estranged father—and regretting she didn’t get the opportunity to learn more about their Mi’kmaq culture from him. When Rita’s girlfriend reveals that she signed her up for an artist’s residency in an isolated cabin, she’s furious, but because it’s close to where her father grew up, she decides to go anyway. There, she begins hearing strange sounds in the woods and seeing visions in the surrounding swamp.

Tiffany Morris is a Mi’kmaw/settler writer.

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This is the final book in the bisexual romantasy series that began with A Broken Blade! In book four, Keera battles with not only King Damien, but also her own worst tendencies. Unlocking Fae magic has turned the tide for the Halflings, but that only increases the king’s violence in trying to purge them from the land. Then, Keera discovers a secret about her lover, just as a close ally is kidnapped. Now she has to fight her own inner demons, pull off a rescue, and build an army to take down the king in this final confrontation.

Melissa Blair is an Anishinaabe-kwe of mixed ancestry.

This is the second book in a trilogy that started with The Dawnhounds. It’s a queer, Māori-inspired, pirate, biopunk fantasy with intense world-building—let yourself get lost in it. Book two brings our crew to a new city, now in flames, where they face off against a militia as the gods’ war threatens to annihilate their world.

Sascha Stronach is Māori, from the Kai Tahu iwi and Kati Huirapa Runaka Ki Puketeraki hapu.

In To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, Anequs found a dragon egg and was forced to attend the Anglish dragon school. Now, she’s survived her first year and is spending the summer back home, along with the only other Native student at the academy. But it doesn’t exactly feel like home: the Anglish are pushing into Masquapaug, and fighting back might just start a civil war.

Moniquill Blackgoose is an enrolled member of the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe and a lineal descendant of Ousamequin Massasoit.

In this YA novel, a nonbinary teenager reconnects with their culture. Jean’s father was taken from his family as a child. When Jean meets Seraphina, they’re introduced to a community and culture they had been been isolated from—but it also means learning about how the Indigenous people of this country have been treated for generations. Along the way, Jean discovers family, connection, healing, and a new confidence in their own multifaceted identity.

Lay Maloney is Gumbaynggirr and Gunggandji.

Jamie a bisexual, football-playing teenager whose life changes when she stands up to her teachers about whitewashing Australian history. The new girl joins her in her protest, but now Jamie is banned from footy. Is this fight worth it, and what happens next? This is the first in a new upper middle grade/lower YA series.

Brooke Blurton is a Noongar-Yamatji woman, and Melanie Saward is a Bigambul and Wakka Wakka woman.

Around the world, creatures are waking up with no memories. The Caravan is here to help. They travel around, bringing creatures and their families into this community. But one day, five of the teenagers wake up to find they’re the only ones left in the Caravan. They’ll have to search for what happened to the rest—but one of them is hiding their own secrets. This queer YA fantasy promises to be “Sweet Tooth meets The Raven Boys“.

H.E. Edgmon is of Seminole descent.

I always find it difficult to summarize poetry collections, so I’ll let the publisher’s description do the talking: “a body more tolerable is a collection of powerful and haunting poems combining faerie tales, mythology, and a self-divinized female rage. Divided into three parts, the book examines Indigenous grief, trans identity, and frustrated desires in ways that reject perception. Gone is the soft, kind, gentle girl that author jaye simpson once thought she would become. Instead, she unravels the sticky threads of colonialism with poems that exact lyrical acts of self-surgery.”

jaye simpson is an Oji-Cree Saulteaux Indigiqueer from the Sapotaweyak Cree Nation.

I loved this collection of essays so much that I put everything aside to immediately pick up her memoir, Red Paint, next. (That one is also great.) LaPointe weaves together the past and present, drawing on the stories of her family and community as well as the political movements of the moment, like Black Lives Matter. She discusses both traditional stories and pop culture. As the title suggests, music plays a big role in the collection, including her days as one of the only Indigenous people in the punk scene of Seattle. It’s a far-ranging and beautifully written collection that I can’t wait to reread.

Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe is a Coast Salish author from the Nooksack and Upper Skagit Indian tribes.

This is a memoir of a prominent Māori lesbian activist and academic, Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku. It follows her journey from growing up a working-class girl from the pā to becoming a founding member of Ngā Tamatoa and the Women’s and Gay Liberation movements. Her experience of being denied entry into the United States in 1972 for being a lesbian was the catalyst for the formation of several of the first Gay Liberation groups in New Zealand.

Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku is Māori, of Te Arawa, Waikato and Tūhoe descent.