51 Native American novels

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a first-person narrative novel by Sherman Alexie, from the perspective of a Native American teenager, Arnold Spirit Jr., also known as "Junior", a 14-year-old promising cartoonist. The book is about Junior's life on the Spokane Indian Reservation and his decision to go to an all-white public high school off of the reservation. The graphic novel includes 65 comic illustrations that help further the plot.

All the Beautiful Sinners is a 2003 novel by Stephen Graham Jones.

Almanac of the Dead is a novel by Leslie Marmon Silko, first published in 1991.

Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles is a 1990 novel by Gerald Vizenor; it is a revised version of his 1978 debut novel Darkness in Saint Louis Bearheart. The novel is a part of the Native American Renaissance and is considered one of the first Native American novels to introduce a trickster figure into a contemporary setting, even as he drew on trickster traditions from various Native American tribes, such as Nanabozho (Anishinaabe) and Kachina (Pueblo).

Bird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun is a 1996 novel by Velma Wallis. It describes the lives of two Gwich'in Athabaskans, Daagoo and Bird Girl, who each defy the rules of their culture and strike out on their own.

The Bird is Gone: A Manifesto is a murder mystery by Stephen Graham Jones. It was published in 2003 by Fiction Collective 2. The Bird is Gone: A Manifesto is Jones' third novel.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants is a 2013 nonfiction book by Robin Wall Kimmerer and published by Milkweed.

Branches is a novel-in-verse by American author Mitch Cullin, with illustrations by the Japanese artist Ryuzo Kikushima. It is the second installment of the writer's Texas Trilogy that also includes the coming-of-age football novel Whompyjawed and the surrealistic novel Tideland.

Ceremony is a novel by writer Leslie Marmon Silko, first published by Viking Press in March 1977. The title Ceremony is based upon the oral traditions and ceremonial practices of the Navajo and Pueblo people.

Gerald Robert Vizenor is an American writer and scholar, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Director of Native American Studies. With more than 30 books published, Vizenor is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico.

Christine Quintasket or Hum-ishu-ma, better known by her author name Mourning Dove, was a Native American author best known for her 1927 novel Cogewea, the Half-Blood: A Depiction of the Great Montana Cattle Range and her 1933 work Coyote Stories.

The Cosmology of Bing is the fourth novel by American author Mitch Cullin. It was first published in April 2001 as a hardback edition from The Permanent Press.

Gerald Robert Vizenor is an American writer and scholar, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Director of Native American Studies. With more than 30 books published, Vizenor is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico.

December 6 is a 2003 thriller novel by American author Martin Cruz Smith.

Gerald Robert Vizenor is an American writer and scholar, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Director of Native American Studies. With more than 30 books published, Vizenor is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico.

The Fast Red Road: A Plainsong serves as Stephen Graham Jones's debut novel written in 2000. He only started writing the book after being introduced to Houghton-Mifflin editor Janet Silver at a party and telling a complicated lie about a book he had written.

Gerald Robert Vizenor is an American writer and scholar, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Director of Native American Studies. With more than 30 books published, Vizenor is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico.

Flight is a novel written by Sherman Alexie. It is written in the first-person, from the viewpoint of a Native American teenager who calls himself Zits, "a time traveling mass murderer." Zits is a foster child, having spent the majority of his life moving from one negative or abusive family experience to another. His friend, Justice, introduces Zits to a new way of thinking, and to the idea of committing random violence. In the middle of a mass shooting in a downtown Seattle bank, Zits is suddenly transported to the past and thrust into the body of a stranger; this is the first of many similar incidents. The story confronts Zits' feelings of vulnerability as a misunderstood teenager, an orphan, and as a biracial person with Native American ancestry.

Fools Crow is a 1986 novel written by Native American author James Welch. Set in Montana shortly after the Civil War, this novel tells of White Man's Dog, a young Blackfeet Indian on the verge of manhood, and his band, known as the Lone Eaters. The invasion of white society threatens to change their traditional way of life, and they must choose to fight or assimilate. The story is a powerful portrait of a culture under pressure from colonization. The story culminates with the historic Marias Massacre of 1870, in which the U.S. Cavalry killed a friendly band of Blackfeet, consisting mostly of non-combatants.

The Grass Dancer is a novel by Susan Power.

Green Grass, Running Water is a 1993 novel by Thomas King, a writer of Cherokee and Greek/German-American descent, and United States and Canadian dual citizenship. He was born and grew up in the United States, and has lived in Canada since 1980. The novel is set in a contemporary First Nations Blackfoot community in Alberta, Canada. It gained attention due to its unique use of structure, narrative, and the fusion of oral and written literary traditions. The novel is rife with humor and satire, particularly regarding Judeo-Christian beliefs as well as Western government and society. Green Grass, Running Water was a finalist for the 1993 Governor General's Award in Fiction.

Gypsy in Amber is a 1971 mystery novel by theAmerican novelist Martin Cruz Smith as "Martin Smith". It was first published on January 1, 1971, by Putnam and was Smith's second novel and first mystery novel.

Gerald Robert Vizenor is an American writer and scholar, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Director of Native American Studies. With more than 30 books published, Vizenor is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico.

House Made of Dawn is a 1968 novel by N. Scott Momaday, widely credited as leading the way for the breakthrough of Native American literature into the mainstream. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, and has also been noted for its significance in Native American anthropology.

Indian Killer is a novel written by Sherman Alexie, featuring a serial killer in the city of Seattle, Washington, who scalps white men. Because of this technique, he is called the "Indian Killer" and rising fear provokes anti-Native American violence and racial hostility.

Bleed Into Me is a collection of short stories by Stephen Graham Jones and is part of Native Storiers: A series of American Narratives.

Demon Theory is a novel written by Native American author Stephen Graham Jones. Written like a screenplay, it was published in 2006.

Ledfeather is a 2008 novel by Native American author Stephen Graham Jones, published by FC2.

The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta: The Celebrated California Bandit was originally published in 1854 by John Rollin Ridge, writing as "Yellow Bird". It is considered to be one of the first novels written in California and the first novel to be published by a Native American. The novel describes the life of a legendary bandit named Joaquín Murieta who, once a dignified citizen of Mexico, becomes corrupt after traveling to California during the Gold Rush. The book was originally published as a fictional biography, but was taken as truth by many historians of the time. The novel received mass attention and was translated to various European languages, including French and Spanish. Unfortunately, the novel was highly plagiarized and Ridge never received the economic gain he hoped for.

The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti is a novel written by Native American author Stephen Graham Jones published in 2008.

La Maravilla is the first novel by Alfredo Véa Jr., published on April 1, 1993. According to the Penguin Groups USA website, it has "become a minor classic of Chicano literature and a core text in Latin studies programs."

Nightwing is a 1977 thriller novel by Martin Cruz Smith, who adapted it for a 1979 film with the same title directed by Arthur Hiller.

People of the Whale is a 2008 novel by Linda Hogan about a Native American man with a supernatural ability to breathe underwater named Thomas Just who is forced to come to terms with his experiences in Vietnam during the war. The novel is separated into three parts. Its chapter titles are known to use a lot of colons, and chapters greatly vary in length from 2 to sometimes 30 pages.

The Post-War Dream is the eighth book by American author Mitch Cullin and was published by Random House in March 2008.

Pushing the Bear is a historical novel by Diane Glancy which explores the lives of the Cherokee in 1838/39 during their forced removal from their land along the Trail of Tears in the United States. The book was published in 1996 by Harcourt.

Reservation Blues is a 1995 novel by American writer Sherman Alexie, a member of the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene tribes.

Rose is a novel by Martin Cruz Smith published in 1996. The story is set in 1872 Wigan, Lancashire, England, a district with extensive coal mines.

Shell Shaker is a novel by LeAnne Howe, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The novel's plot revolves around two tales of murder involving Choctaw political leaders. Set over a 200-year period, it focuses on several generations of the Billy family who try to keep the peace. According to Howe, Shell Shaker is "a book about power, its misuse, and how a community responds. It's not for Indians only."

The Silver Cloud Café (1996) is the second novel by Alfredo Véa Jr.. Set primarily in modern-day San Francisco, The Silver Cloud Café has the narrative frame of a mystery, but utilizes postmodern devices, manipulating time and space. It begins simply enough, at the scene of a hideous crime in the Mission District in 1993 San Francisco, but the story quickly spins out into various levels, calling attention to political-working-class themes and racial boundaries by exploring the depths of its diverse cast of characters.

A Slight Trick of the Mind is the seventh book by American author Mitch Cullin.

John Joseph Mathews (Osage) became one of the Osage Nation's most important spokespeople and writers, and served on the Osage Tribal Council during the 1930s. He studied at the University of Oklahoma, Oxford University, and the University of Geneva after serving as a flight instructor during World War I.

The Surrounded, D’Arcy McNickle's first book, was first published in 1936 by Harcourt, Brace and Company then republished in 1964 and again in 1978 by the University of New Mexico Press. McNickle was a Cree Métis author enrolled as Salish-Kootenai on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

There There is the first novel by the Cheyenne and Arapaho author Tommy Orange. Published in 2018, the book opens with a prologue essay by Orange, and then proceeds to follow a large cast of Native Americans living in the Oakland, California area. The characters struggle with a wide array of challenges, ranging from depression and alcoholism, to unemployment, fetal alcohol syndrome, and the challenges of living with an "ambiguously nonwhite" ethnic identity in the United States. All of the characters unite at a community pow wow and its attempted robbery.

Tideland is the third published book by author Mitch Cullin, and is the third installment of the writer's Texas Trilogy that also includes the coming-of-age novel Whompyjawed and the novel-in-verse Branches.

Trail of Lightning is a 2018 fantasy novel, the debut novel by Rebecca Roanhorse. After a supernatural disaster destroys most of North America, Navajo monster-slayer Maggie Hoskie must navigate a world of monsters and gods. The novel won the 2019 Locus Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Locus Awards for Best Novel.

Truth and Bright Water is a bildungsroman by Thomas King set in the Canadian Prairies on the Canada–United States border. The novel embeds a number of magical features within painstakingly realist prose, showing its affiliation with Magic realism.

UnderSurface is the sixth book by American author Mitch Cullin with illustrations by Peter I. Chang. It was first published in September 2002 as a hardback edition from The Permanent Press.

Waterlily is a novel by Ella Cara Deloria.

Whompyjawed is the debut novel by American author Mitch Cullin. It is the first installment of the writer's Texas Trilogy that also includes the dark novel-in-verse Branches and the surrealistic novel Tideland.

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water is the debut novel of author Michael Dorris, published in 1987. It tells the story of three generations of Native American women: Rayona, who is half African-American, her mother Christine, and Christine's mother Aunt Ida. The story is told in three distinct sections, one for each woman. Throughout the book, themes of family, identity, and heritage are highlighted and examined.