Native American literature is

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, both

oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or or ...

and written, produced by Native Americans in what is now the United States (as distinct from First Nations writers in Canada), from pre-Columbian times through to today. Famous authors include

N. Scott Momaday Navarre Scott Momaday (born February 27, 1934) is a Kiowa novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His novel ''House Made of Dawn'' was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, and is considered the first major work of the Native ...

Leslie Marmon Silko Leslie Marmon Silko (born Leslie Marmon; born March 5, 1948) is an American writer. A Laguna Pueblo Indian woman, she is one of the key figures in the First Wave of what literary critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance ...

Simon Ortiz Simon J. Ortiz (born May 27, 1941) is a Native American writer, poet, and enrolled member of the Pueblo of Acoma. Ortiz is one of the key figures in the second wave of what has been called the Native American Renaissance. Ortiz's commitment t ...

Louise Erdrich Louise Erdrich ( ; born Karen Louise Erdrich, June 7, 1954) is an American author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American characters and settings. She is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indian ...

Gerald Vizenor Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and ...

Joy Harjo Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetr ...

Sherman Alexie Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr. (born October 7, 1966) is a Spokane- Coeur d'Alene-Native American novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and filmmaker. His writings draw on his experiences as an Indigenous American with ancestry from se ...

D'Arcy McNickle William D'Arcy McNickle (January 14, 1904 – October 10, 1977) (Salish Kootenai) was a writer, Native American activist, college professor and administrator, and anthropologist. Of Irish and Cree- Métis descent, he later enrolled in the Salis ...

, James Welch,

Charles Eastman Charles Alexander Eastman (February 19, 1858 – January 8, 1939) was an American physician, writer, and social reformer. He was the first Native American to be certified in Western medicine and was "one of the most prolific authors and speaker ...

Mourning Dove The mourning dove (''Zenaida macroura'') is a member of the dove family, Columbidae. The bird is also known as the American mourning dove, the rain dove, and colloquially as the turtle dove, and was once known as the Carolina pigeon and Caroli ...

Zitkala-Sa Zitkala-Ša (Lakota: Zitkála-Šá, meaning Red Bird; February 22, 1876 – January 26, 1938), also known by her missionary and married name, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was a Yankton Dakota writer, editor, translator, musician, educator, and polit ...

John Rollin Ridge John Rollin Ridge (Cherokee name: Cheesquatalawny, or Yellow Bird, March 19, 1827 – October 5, 1867), a member of the Cherokee Nation, is considered the first Native American novelist. After moving to California in 1850, he began to write ...

Lynn Riggs Rollie Lynn Riggs (August 31, 1899 – June 30, 1954) was an American author, poet, playwright and screenwriter. His 1931 play ''Green Grow The Lilacs'' was adapted into the landmark 1943 musical ''Oklahoma!''. Early life Riggs was born on a ...

Diane Glancy (Helen) Diane Glancy (March 18, 1941) is an American poet, author, and playwright. Life and career Glancy was born in Kansas City, Missouri, to a Cherokee descent (non-enrolled) father, Lewis H. Hall, and an English-German-American mother. At a ...

Hanay Geiogamah Hanay Geiogamah (born 1945) is a playwright, television and movie producer, and artistic director. He is currently a Professor in the School of Theater, Film, and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also served as the direc ...

William Apess 300px, Autobiography of William Apess William Apess (1798–1839, Pequot) (also known as William Apes before 1837), was an ordained Methodist minister, writer, and activist of mixed-race descent, who was a political and religious leader in Massach ...

Samson Occom Samson Occom (1723 – July 14, 1792; also misspelled as Occum and Alcom) was a member of the Mohegan nation, from near New London, Connecticut, who became a Presbyterian cleric. Occom was the second Native American to publish his writings in Eng ...

, et al. Importantly, it is not "a" literature, but a set of literatures, since every tribe has its own cultural traditions. Since the 1960s, it has also become a significant field of

literary studies Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

, with academic journals, departments, and conferences devoted to the subject.

Oral traditions

Native American literatures come out of a rich set of

oral traditions Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...

from before European contact and/or the later adoption of European writing practices. Oral traditions include not only narrative story-telling, but also the songs, chants, and poetry used for rituals and ceremonies. Many of these stories and songs were transcribed by

anthropologists An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

, but often with significant conflict with the tribes and often with significant misinterpretation and/or mistranslation.

Early literature

Many early Native American writers were political and/or autobiographical, which was often also political in that it was meant to persuade readers to push for better treatment of Native Americans.

(Mohegan) was a Christian preacher who wrote not only his autobiography, '' A Short Narrative of My Life'', but also many hymns.

(Pequot) wrote his autobiography, ''A Son of the Forest'', as well as a public lecture/eulogy of King Philip.

Sarah Winnemucca Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins ( – October 17, 1891) was a Northern Paiute author, activist (lecturer) and educator (school organizer). Her maiden name is Winnemucca. Her Northern Paiute name was Thocmentony, also spelled Tocmetone, which translates ...

(Paiute) wrote about her tribe's first interactions with European Americans in '' Life Among the Paiutes'', and

(Cherokee) wrote what is considered the first novel by a Native American, ''

The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta ''The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta: The Celebrated California Bandit'' (1854) was published 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 b ...

'', about the infamous California bandit. In the early 1900s, as white American audiences became interested in reading about the lives and cultures of Native Americans, Native American writers began transcribing the stories of their cultures, such as

's ''Old Indian Days'' and

's ''Coyote Tales''. Others began to write fiction, for example, Mourning Dove's novel '' Cogewea'' and

's '' The Surrounded''. Other novelists include

John Joseph Mathews John Joseph Mathews (November 16, 1894 – June 16, 1979) (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, Oxf ...

and John Milton Oskison. Perhaps the best known Native American work from this period is ''

Green Grow the Lilacs Green Grow the Lilacs is a folk song of Irish origin that was popular in the United States during the mid-19th century. The song title is the source of a folk etymology for the word '' gringo'' that states that the Mexicans misheard U.S. troops ...

'', a play by Cherokee author

that became the basis for the musical ''

Oklahoma! ''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical theater, musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs (play), Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of ...

'' Many of these authors blended autobiography, traditional stories, fiction, and essays, as can be seen in

's (Dakota) ''

American Indian Stories ''American Indian Stories'' is a collection of childhood stories, allegorical fictions and essays written by Sioux writer and activist Zitkala-Ša. First published in 1921, ''American Indian Stories'' details the hardships encountered by Zitka ...

''.

Native American Renaissance

The term "

Native American Renaissance The Native American Renaissance is a term originally coined by critic Kenneth Lincoln in the 1983 book ''Native American Renaissance'' to categorise the significant increase in production of literary works by Native Americans in the United States in ...

" was coined in 1983 by Kenneth Lincoln to describe the flowering of literary work by Native American writers in the late 1960s through the 1970s and into the 1980s. The focal point for the "arrival" of Native American literature as a significant literary event came with the first

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

awarded to a Native author,

(Kiowa) for his novel '' House Made of Dawn''. The 1970s saw important fiction by James Welch (Blackfeet and A-aninin),

(Laguna), and

(Chippewa), and poetry by

(Muscogee), Simon J. Ortiz (Acoma), and

Wendy Rose Wendy Rose (born May 8, 1948) is a Hopi/Miwok writer. Having grown up in an environment which placed little emphasis on both her Native American and white background, much of her verse deals with her search for her personal identity. She is als ...

(Hopi/Miwok). Many authors have done significant work in both genres, such as

Joseph Bruchac Joseph Bruchac (born October 16, 1942) is an American writer and storyteller based in New York. He writes about Indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a particular focus on northeastern Native American and Anglo-American lives and folklore. He ...

(Abenaki). The 1980s saw many of the writers listed above continuing to produce new literature. New voices included

(Ojibwe),

Paula Gunn Allen Paula Gunn Allen (October 24, 1939 – May 29, 2008) was a Native American poet, literary critic, activist, professor, and novelist. Of mixed-race European-American, Native American, and Arab-American descent, she identified with her mother's p ...

(Laguna), Linda Hogan (Chickasaw),

Michael Dorris Michael Anthony Dorris (January 30, 1945 – April 10, 1997) was an American novelist and scholar who was the first Chair of the Native American Studies program at Dartmouth College. His works include the novel '' A Yellow Raft in Blue Water'' ( ...

, and

Luci Tapahonso Luci Tapahonso (born November 8, 1953) is a Navajo poet and a lecturer in Native American Studies. She is the first poet laureate of the Navajo Nation, succeeded by Laura Tohe. Early life and education Tapahonso was born on the Navajo reservati ...

(Navajo). The 1990s introduced several works of poetry and of prose fiction by Spokane/Coeur D'Alene author

. Chickasaw author Linda Hogan's '' Mean Spirit'' was a finalist for the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

21st-century literature

In 2021,

was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner for ''The Night Watchman''. In 2019,

(Muscogee Nation) became the first Native American to hold the post of

United States Poet Laureate The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the official poet of the United States. During their term, the poet laureate seeks to raise the national cons ...

. Also in 2019,

Tommy Orange Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fi ...

's (Cheyenne & Arapaho) novel about urban Indian life in California, ''

There There "There There" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released as the lead single from their sixth album, '' Hail to the Thief'' (2003), on 26 May 2003. It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, number one in Canada and Port ...

'', was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Themes and threads

;Trauma and Healing ; Mixed-bloods ;Ceremonies

External sources

Articles on Native American writers in ''Western American Literature''

References

{{Authority control Native American literature American literature by ethnic background Native American culture