This was probably the trickiest list so far. We wanted to cover as many different indigenous peoples as we could—obviously limited by what’s published and/or available and/or translated—of which, there are some easier to find than others (as is probably clear). There’s also a fair amount of overlap with at least some of the previous lists, so we’ve tried not to duplicate books (although authors may feature more than once here, and across lists).
This list is a little bit different to the previous ones. We aren’t marking with flags, or including an emoji to indicate diaspora. Instead, we’ll split the list by continent, and make a note for specifics. As such, this is going to be a longer list than previous ones (although undoubtedly you’ll spot where we couldn’t find any books).
And once again, briefly, some links to the series so far: Black, African & Caribbean lit, East Asian lit, West Asian lit, South Asian lit, Southeast Asian lit, Latine lit, religion in lit, and neurodiversity & disability in lit.
And more links! Hausa lit, New Zealand lit (not all indigenous), some Sami lit (although not translated into English), North American lit (and here).
Africa
Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society by Ifi Amadiume (nonfiction) / Igbo
Black Bull, Ancestors and Me: My Life as a Lesbian Sangoma by Nkunzi Zandile Nkabinde (memoir) / Zulu
The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi (non-cis mc) / Igbo, Sri Lankan Tamil
Skin into Verse by Yvonne Onakeme Etaghene (poetry) / Ijaw
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (lesbian mc, gay mc) / Yoruba
Asia
My Father’s Garden by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar (gay mc) / Santhali
Koolaids by Rabih Alameddine (gay characters) / Druze
Funny Boy by Shyam Selvaduri / Tamil, Sinhalese
Central & South America
Queer Natives in Latin America: Forbidden Chapters of Colonial History by Fabiano S. Gontijo, Barbara M. Arisi & Estêvão R. Fernandes (nonfiction)
to love and mourn in the age of displacement by Alan Pelaez Lopez (poetry) / Zapotec
Behind the Mask: Gender Hybridity in the Zapotec Community by Alfredo Mirande (nonfiction) / Zapotec
My Woman Card Is Anti-Native, & Other Two-Spirit Truths by Xemiyulu Manibusan Tapepechul (poetry) / Nawat
Europe
Queering Sápmi ed. by Elfrida Bergman, Sara Lindquist & Mikaela Hincks (essays) / Saami
Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World by Catalina de Erauso, trans. by Michele Stepto & Gabriel Stepto (memoir) / Basque
North America
Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature ed. by Qwo-Li Driskill, Daniel Heath Justice, Lisa Tatonetti & Deborah A. Miranda (essays)
nîtisânak by Lindsay Nixon (memoir) / Cree-Métis-Saulteaux
A History of My Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt (memoir) / Driftpile Cree Nation
A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder by Ma-Nee Chacaby (memoir) / Oji-Cree
Walking with Ghosts: Poems by Qwo-Li Driskill (poetry) / Cherokee
Disintegrate/Dissociate by Arielle Twist (poetry) / Cree
Fire Song by Adam Garnet Jones (gay mc) / Cree, Métis
Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead (Two-Spirit mc) / Oji-Cree
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Díaz (poetry) / Mojave
This Town Sleeps by Dennis Staples (gay mc) / Ojibwe
Nature Poem by Tommy Pico (poetry) / Kumeyaay Nation
Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers by Jake Skeets (poetry) / Diné
Not Vanishing by Chrystos (poetry) / Menominee
Holy Wild by Gwen Benaway (poetry) / Anishinaabe, Tsagli, Métis
Kynship by Daniel Heath Justice (bi mcs, Two-Spirit mcs) / Cherokee
Last Night in Nuuk by Niviaq Korneliussen (lesbian mcs, gay mc) / Greenlandic Inuit
Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (nonbinary mc) / Nishnaabeg
Oceania
Where We Once Belonged by Sia Fiegel (fa’afafine character) / Samoa
Brown Girls in Bright Red Lipstick by Courtney Sina Meredith (poetry) / Samoa
The Uncle’s Story by Witi Ihimaera (gay mc) / Maori
Nights in the Gardens of Spain by Witi Ihimaera (gay mc) / Maori
Koiwi Koiwi by Hinemoana Baker (poetry) / Maori
Ransack by essa may ranapiri (poetry) / Maori
Black Ice Matter by Gina Cole (lesbian mc) / Fiji
The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough (gay mc) / Yuin
Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko (sapphic mc) / Bundjalung
Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven (lesbian mcs) / Mununjali
Songs That Sound Like Blood by Jared Thomas (sapphic mc) / Nukunu
Lemons in the Chicken Wire by Alison Whittaker (poetry) / Gamilaraay
Jack Charles: Born-again Blakfella by Jack Charles with Namila Benson (memoir) / Bunurong, Wiradjuri
