9 Must-Read New Books by Indigenous Authors Out in 2025

4 weeks ago 15

a collage of book covers

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2025 is an incredible year for Indigenous literature. This list doesn’t even scratch the surface of the books by Indigenous authors out this year; these are just some of the most exciting titles that belong on your TBR. If you’re looking for more, I recommend checking out the Goodminds list of 2025 new releases. Goodminds is a First Nations-owned family business that highlights Indigenous books. You can buy from there or an Indigenous-owned bookstore, like Iron Dog Books.

Because I had such a hard time narrowing it down to this list, I wanted to mention a couple more that should be on your radar, both by beloved authors: Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley, a new YA mystery from the author of Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed, and Bud Finds Her Gift by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Naoko Stoop, a new picture book from the author of Braiding Sweetgrass. Both of them are out September 2nd and available for preorder now. I also wanted to give an honorable mention to The Ribbon Skirt by Cameron Mukwa, a middle grade graphic novel about a Two-Spirit kid, which came out at the end of 2024.

Now, let’s get into some of the best new books by Indigenous authors out this year, from literary fiction to horror, romance, memoirs, and poetry.

Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis

You’ve seen many coming-of-age novels by now, I’m sure, but have you ever seen a coming-of-middle-age one? In Curtis’s debut, Abe Jacobs is a 43-year-old Ahkwesáhsne man who begrudgingly returns to the reservation where he grew up after more than 20 years. The reason for his return? Doctors have told him he’s dying, and he’s decided on the way treatment he never thought he would: a healing at the hands of his unceremonious, recovered alcoholic great uncle Budge. Now, he remains skeptical of being healed, but in his exploring it, there’s a seed of hope. Through witty lines and the musings of Abe’s poet alter ego, Dominick Deer Woods, we see him confront all those things that kept him away from his home for all that time. —Erica Ezeifedi

Big Chief by Jon Hickey

Mitch Caddo is a young law school graduate who, despite being an outsider in the land of his Anishinaabe ancestors, runs the government of the Passage Rouge Nation and the nation’s Golden Eagle Casino and Hotel with his childhood friend, Tribal President Mack Beck. Then Mack is up for reelection, and the people opposing him are the well-known activist and politician Gloria Hawkins and her young aide Layla Beck, who happens to be Mack’s estranged sister and Mitch’s former boo. As you might imagine, with politics—and family, and former lovers—things get heated. So much so that Mitch and Layla have to come together to stop the reservation from sliding into outright violent chaos, especially after Mitch’s mentor dies. —Erica Ezeifedi

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

New Stephen Graham Jones is always cause for celebration, and his latest offers up his usual Indigenous-centered horror. This time, it largely takes place out west, in 1912. It’s also full of sweet, sweet revenge.

The diary of a Lutheran pastor from 1912 is found a hundred years after it was written, and what is in it is almost unbelievable. The pastor recorded his interviews with a Blackfeet man named Good Stab, who can not seem to die, and who has a taste for blood. Good Stab is connected to a slow massacre that traces all the way back to the very real Marias Massacre, in which 217 Blackfeet people were killed by the U.S. Army.

Also check out the other Stephen Graham Jones book out this year, a reissue of two of his previously published stories in one volume: Killer on the Road / The Babysitter Lives (July 15). —Erica Ezeifedi

The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth

Here’s the latest from Erika T. Wurth, author of White Horse. Ever since the mysterious death of her sister Naiche, Olivia Becente has been haunted by spirits. Now she’s the most sought-after paranormal investigator in Denver, and a Denver hotel called Brown Palace has asked her to look into the mysterious deaths in room 904. Every few years, a girl is found dead in that room, no matter what room she was checked into. As Olivia looks into the mystery, she will also uncover shocking secrets about her sister’s life. —Emily Martin

Beast by Richard Van Camp

In this Indigenous YA horror novel set in the 1980s, the Dogrib and Chipewyan have agreed upon a peace treaty. Lawson and his family are on the Dogrib side, doing their best to honor “the Treaty” with the Cranes, a neighboring Chipewyan family. But that agreement doesn’t mean there is no ill will between the families. Especially now that one of the Cranes is following the orders of an evil spirit who wants nothing more than blood and war. —Emily Martin

Love Is a War Song by Danica Nava (July 22, 2025)

After the success The Truth According to Ember, fans have been eager to read Danica Nava’s next romance. And you will be able to, soon! Pop star Avery Fox caused a stir posing for a Rolling Stone cover wearing a feather warbonnet. She is Muscogee, but has been ridiculed by the public, so she’s staying with her estranged grandmother on a ranch for a while. There she meets Lucas Iron Eyes. The two strike up a deal where she helps fundraise for the ranch in exchange for more insight into her and Lucas’s shared heritage and culture. If you liked that Nava allowed her characters to be messy in her debut, you’ll love this book, too. —Isabelle Popp

All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live with Anxiety by David A. Robertson

David A. Robertson has twice won the Governor General’s Literary Award, the biggest literary award in Canada. He’s written picture books, a fantasy middle grade series, graphic novels, adult fiction, and more. In his newest memoir, he opens up about having anxiety and panic attacks, explaining how he’s learned to live with his mental health struggles. There aren’t nearly enough books about mental health written by and for Indigenous people; this will be such a big help for so many readers.

a body more tolerable by jaye simpson

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.”

Born Sacred: Poems for Palestine by Smokii Sumac

Smokii Sumac is a Ktunaxa poet who, starting in October 2023, wrote 100 poems reflecting on watching the Palestinian genocide unfold in Gaza. Sumac writes about how genocide in enacted around the world, connecting the history of colonization in North America to the violence Israel is perpetuating on Palestinians. This collection is a call for solidarity around the globe.

Looking for more? Check out 12 Must-Read New Books by Native Writers of Turtle Island and 22 Must-Read Indigenous Authors.

*All Access Members continue on below for BIPOC books out this week*