This is a list of notable writers who are

Indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

. This list includes

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

s who are

Alaskan Native Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numb ...

, American Indian,

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

, and

Indigenous peoples of Mexico Indigenous peoples of Mexico ( es, gente indígena de México, pueblos indígenas de México), Native Mexicans ( es, nativos mexicanos) or Mexican Native Americans ( es, pueblos originarios de México, lit=Original peoples of Mexico), are those ...

, the Caribbean, Central America, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, as defined by the citizens of these Indigenous nations and tribes. While Indigenous identity can at times be complex, inclusion in this list is based upon reliably-sourced citizenship in an Indigenous nation, based upon the legal definitions of, and recognition by, the relevant Indigenous community claimed by the individual. They must be documented as being claimed by that community. Writers such as Forrest Carter,

Ward Churchill Ward LeRoy Churchill (born 1947) is an American author and political activist. He was a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1990 until 2007.

Jamake Highwater Jamake Highwater (born Jackie Marks, also known as Jay or J Marks; 14 February 1931 – June 3, 2001) was an American writer and journalist of Eastern European Jewish ancestry who mispresented himself as Cherokee. In the late 1960s, Marks assum ...

Joseph Boyden Joseph Boyden (born October 31, 1966) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Irish and Scottish descent. He also claims Indigenous descent, but this is widely disputed. Joseph Boyden is best known for writing about First Nations culture ...

and

Grey Owl Archibald Stansfeld Belaney (; September 18, 1888 – April 13, 1938), commonly known as Grey Owl, was a British-born conservationist, fur trapper, and writer who disguised himself as a Native American man. While he achieved fame as a co ...

, whose claims of Indigenous American descent have been factually disproved through genealogical research, are not included in this list.

A

Louise Abeita Louise Abeita Chewiwi (E-Yeh-Shure or Blue Corn) (September 9, 1926 – July 21, 2014), was a Puebloan writer, poet, and educator, who was an enrolled member of Isleta Pueblo. Early life Louise Abeita was born and raised at Isleta Pueblo, New ...

Isleta Pueblo Pueblo of Isleta ( tix, Shiewhibak , kjq, Dîiw'a'ane ; nv, Naatoohó ) is an unincorporated community and Tanoan pueblo in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States, originally established in the . The Southern Tiwa name of the pueblo ...

, 1926–2014 *

Janice Acoose Janice Acoose (1954-2020) was a Canadian author, newspaper columnist, filmmaker, indigenous language advocate, and professor of indigenous and English literature at First Nations University of Canada in Saskatchewan. Early life and family Acoose ...

, Sakimay (

Saulteaux The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Al ...

)

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, Canada, 1954–2020 *

Evan Adams Evan Tlesla Adams (born November 15, 1966) is an Indigenous Canadian actor, playwright, and physician. A Coast Salish from the Sliammon First Nation near Powell River, British Columbia, he is best known internationally for his roles in the films ...

Sliammon First Nation The Tla'amin First Nation (Comox language: ɬəʔamɛn), formerly Sliammon Indian Band or Sliammon First Nation, is a First Nations in Canada, First Nations self governing nation whose lands and traditional territories are located on the upper Su ...

Coast Salish The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coas ...

, Canada, b. 1966 *

Howard Adams Howard Adams (September 8, 1921 – September 8, 2001) was a twentieth century Metis academic and activist. Life He was born in St. Louis, Saskatchewan, Canada, on September 8, 1921, the son of Olive Elizabeth McDougall, a French Métis mo ...

, Canada, 1921–2001 *

Freda Ahenakew Freda Ahenakew (February 11, 1932 – April 8, 2011) was a Canadian author and academic of Cree descent. Ahenakew was considered a leader in Indigenous language preservation and literary heritage preservation in Canada. She was a sister-in-la ...

, Ahtahkakoop Cree, Canada, 1932–2011 *

Humberto Ak'ab'al Humberto is a Portuguese and Spanish masculine given name of Germanic origin. It may refer to: *Humberto Aguilar Coronado * Humberto Ak'ab'al * Humberto Albiñana * Humberto Albornoz * Humberto Alonso Morelli * Humberto Alonso Razo * Humberto Andra ...

, K'iche' Maya,

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

, 1952–2019 *

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is an Anishinaabe writer of mixed ancestry from the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation in Canada. She lives and works at Neyaashiinigmiing, Cape Croker Reserve on the Saugeen Peninsula in southwestern Ontario, and in Ottawa, ...

, Nawash Chippewa, Canada, b. 1965 * Clarence Alexander, Gwichyaa Zhee Corporation Gwich’in, b. 1939 *

Robert Arthur Alexie Robert Arthur Alexie (22 July 19579 June 2014) was a Canadian First Nations in Canada, First Nations novelist and a land claim negotiator who played a key role in land claim agreements in the Northwest Territories. Alexie was born in Fort McPhe ...

, Gwich'in, Canada, 1957–2014New 311Sigafus and Ernst *

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 ...

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

/ Coeur d'Alene, b. 1966 * Gerald Taiaiake Alfred, Kahnawake Mohawk, Canada, b. 1964 *

Elsie Allen Elsie Comanche Allen (September 22, 1899 – December 31, 1990) was a Native American Pomo basket weaver from the Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California in Northern California, significant as for historically categorizing and teachi ...

, Cloverdale Pomo, 1899–1990 *

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 Laguna (Italian and Spanish for lagoon) may refer to: People * Abe Laguna (born 1992), American DJ known as Ookay * Andrés Laguna (1499–1559), Spanish physician, pharmacologist, and botanist * Ana Laguna (born 1955), Spanish-Swedish ballet d ...

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

/ Lebanese, 1939–2008 *

Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

, Texcocan,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, ca. 1570–1648 * Irma Alvarez Ccoscco,

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, b. 1980 * Arthur Amiotte,

Oglala Lakota The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority ...

, b. 1942 * Ch'aska Anka Ninawaman,

, b. 1973 *

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 ...

Pequot The Pequot () are a Native American people of Connecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognized Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or th ...

, 1798–1839 * Annette Arkeketa, Otoe-Missouria/

Penticton Indian Band The Penticton Indian Band is a First Nations government in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located next to the city of Penticton in the Okanagan Valley. They are a member of the Okanagan Nation Alliance. It has an accredited High School ...

(

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, b. 1948 *

José María Arguedas José María Arguedas Altamirano (18 January 1911 – 2 December 1969) was a Peruvian novelist, poet, and anthropologist. Arguedas was an author of Spanish descent, fluent in the Native Quechua language, gained by living in two Quechua househ ...

Mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...

-descent, Peru, 1911–1969 * Joan Tavares Avant,

Mashpee Wampanoag The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (formerly Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc.) is one of two federally recognized tribes of Wampanoag people in Massachusetts. Recognized in 2007, they are headquartered in Mashpee on Cape Cod. The other ...

, b. 1940

B

* Joséphine Bacon,

Innu The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...

, Québec, Canada, b.1947 * Marie Annharte Baker, Little Saskatchewan Ojibway, Canada, b. 1942 *

Dennis Banks Dennis Banks (April 12, 1937, in Ojibwe – October 29, 2017) was a Native American activist, teacher, and author. He was a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, which he co-founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1968 to represent urb ...

, Leech Lake Ojibwe, 1937–2017 *

Keith Barker Keith Hubert Douglas Barker (born 21 October 1986) is an English first-class cricketer who plays for Hampshire. He is an all-rounder. He previously played professional football, where he was a striker. He came through the academy of Premier ...

, Métis, Canada *

Jim Barnes James Martin Barnes (April 8, 1886 – May 24, 1966) was an English golfer and a leading figure in the early years of professional golf in the United States. He is one of three native Britons (with Tommy Armour and Rory McIlroy) to win three di ...

Choctaw Nation The Choctaw Nation ( Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American territory covering about , occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

descent, b. 1933,McClinton-Temple and Velie 26 Poet Laureate of Oklahoma, 2009 * Jose Barreiro,

Taíno The Taíno were a historic Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, b. 1948 *

James Bartleman James Karl Bartleman (born 24 December 1939) is a former Canadian diplomat and author who served as the 27th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 2002 to 2007. Bartleman grew up in the Muskoka town of Port Carling, and he is a member of the ...

, Chippewas of Rama First Nation, Canada, b. 1939 * Glecia Bear,

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

, Canada, 1912–1998 *

Shane Belcourt Shane Anthony Belcourt (born December 30, 1972) is a Métis writer, director, and cinematographer from Canada.Jennie Punter, "'I didn't have time to filter'". ''The Globe and Mail'', August 14, 2008. He is best known for his 2007 feature film '' ...

, Canada, b. 1972 *

Diane E. Benson Diane E. Benson (born May 10, 1954) is an Alaskan politician, writer and dramatist. She was the 2010 Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Alaska, defeating three other opponents in the Democratic primary. Benson's running mate for gove ...

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

, b. 1954 *

Gertrude Bernard Gertrude Bernard (June 18, 1906 – June 17, 1986), also known as Anahareo, was a writer, animal rights activist and conservationist of Algonquin and Mohawk ancestry. Biography Gertrude Bernard was born in Mattawa, Ontario, on June 18, 19 ...

(

Anahareo Gertrude Bernard (June 18, 1906 – June 17, 1986), also known as Anahareo, was a writer, animal rights activist and conservationist of Algonquin and Mohawk ancestry. Biography Gertrude Bernard was born in Mattawa, Ontario, on June 18, 19 ...

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...

, Canada, 1906–1986 * Gloria Bird,

, b. 1951 *

Sandra Birdsell Sandra Louise Birdsell, CM (née Bartlette) (born 22 April 1942) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Métis and Mennonite heritage from Morris, Manitoba. Life and career Born in Hamiota, Manitoba, Birdsell was the fifth of eleven ch ...

, Canada, b. 1942 *

Andrew Blackbird Andrew Jackson Blackbird (c. 1814 – 17 September 1908), also known as Makade-binesi ("Black Hawk")'','' was an Odawa (Ottawa) tribe leader and historian. He was author of the 1887 book, ''History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan'' ...

Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They ha ...

, ca. 1815–1908 *

Ned Blackhawk Ned Blackhawk (b. ca. 1970) is a Te-Moak tribe, Western Shoshone American historian currently on the faculty of Yale University. In 2007 he received the Frederick Jackson Turner Award for his first major book, ''Violence Over the Land: Indians a ...

, Te-Moak Shoshone * Governor Blacksnake (Thaonawyuthe/Chainbreaker),

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

, c. 1760–1859 *

Peter Blue Cloud Peter Blue Cloud (Aroniawenrate) (1933 – 2011) was a Mohawk poet, and folklorist. Early life He was born June 10, 1933 of the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk Nation on the Caughnawaga Reserve in Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada Quebec ( ; )Accordi ...

, 1935–2011 * Buffalo Bird Woman ( Maxidiwiac),

Hidatsa The Hidatsa are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a parent t ...

, ca. 1839–1932 * Sherwin Bitsui,

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

, b. 1975 * Kimberly M. Blaeser,

White Earth Ojibwe The White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, also called the White Earth Nation ( oj, Gaa-waabaabiganikaag Anishinaabeg, "People from where there is an abundance of white clay"), is a federally recognized Native American band located ...

, b. 1955 *

, b. 1935McClinton-Temple and Velie 247 *

Columpa Bobb Columpa C. Bobb (born 1971) is a Canadian photographer, actress, playwright, poet and teacher of Coastal Salish descent. She has been performing, writing plays, and teaching for 20 years. Career Bobb, who is originally from Vancouver, has writt ...

, Tsleil Waututh/

Nlaka'pamux The Nlaka'pamux or Nlakapamuk ( ; ), also previously known as the ''Thompson'', ''Thompson River Salish'', ''Thompson Salish'', ''Thompson River Indians'' or ''Thompson River people'', and historically as the ''Klackarpun'', ''Haukamaugh'', ''Kni ...

, Canada, b. 1971 *

Elias Boudinot Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress (more accurately referred to as the Congress of the Confederation) and served as Presiden ...

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

, 1740–1821, first Native American novelist (''Poor Sarah'', 1823) *

Beth Brant Beth E. Brant, Degonwadonti, or Kaieneke'hak was a Mohawk writer, essayist, and poet of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario, Canada. She was also a lecturer, editor, and speaker. She wrote ...

, Bay of Quinte Mohawk, 1941–2015 *

Mary Brave Bird Mary Brave Bird, also known as Mary Brave Woman Olguin and Mary Crow Dog (September 26, 1954 – February 14, 2013) was a Sicangu Lakota writer and activist who was a member of the American Indian Movement during the 1970s and participated in some ...

, Sicangu Lakota,Porter and Roemer 136 1953–2013 * Ignatia Broker, Ottertail Pillager Band

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

, United States, 1919–1987 * Emily Ticasuk Ivanoff Brown,

Inuk Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and ...

, (1904–1982) * Vee F. Browne,

, b. 1956 *

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 ...

Nulhegan Band The Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation is a state-recognized tribe and nonprofit organization, called AHA "Abenaki Helping Abenaki", whose headquarters and land are based in Vermont. They are often referred to as the Nulhegan Abenaki Tri ...

, b. 1942 *

Louis F. Burns Louis Francis Burns (January 2, 1920 – May 20, 2012) was an Americans, American historian, author, and teacher, known as a leading expert on the history, mythology and culture of the Osage Nation. Burns wrote more than a dozen books and scholar ...

( Hulah Hihekah),

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) ( Osage: 𐓁𐒻 𐓂𐒼𐒰𐓇𐒼𐒰͘ ('), "People of the Middle Waters") is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 BC along ...

, 1920–2012 *

Frank Christopher Busch Frank Christopher Busch is a Cree writer from Canada, who was a winner of the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature in 2015 for his debut novel ''Grey Eyes''. A member of the Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in Manitoba,

, Canada

C

* Gregory Cajete,

Santa Clara Pueblo Santa Clara Pueblo (in Tewa: Khaʼpʼoe Ówîngeh ɑ̀ʔp’òː ʔówîŋgè ″Singing Water Village″, also known as ″Village of Wild Roses″ is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States and a federal ...

Cristina Calderón Cristina Calderón Harban (24 May 1928 – 16 February 2022) was a Chilean ethnographer, craftswoman, writer and cultural activist who was the last living full-blooded Yaghan person after the death of her 84-year-old sister Úrsula in 2005. By ...

, Yaghan,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, 1928–2022, last speaker of the

Yaghan language Yahgan or Yagán (also spelled Yaghan, Jagan, Iakan, and also known as Yámana, Háusi Kúta, or Yágankuta), is an extinct language that was one of the indigenous languages of Tierra del Fuego, spoken by the Yaghan people. It was regarded as a ...

* Victoria Belcourt Callihoo (1861-1966)

historian *

Adela Calva Reyes Adela Calva Reyes (1967 – 2 March 2018) was an indigenous Mexican writer, author and playwright of the Otomi people. Biography Adela was born in 1967 in San Ildefonso, Tepejí del Río, State of Hidalgo. She remembered poverty in her childhood ...

, Otomí, Mexico, 1967-2018 *

Maria Campbell Maria Campbell (born April 26, 1940 near Park Valley, Saskatchewan) is a Métis author, playwright, broadcaster, filmmaker, and Elder. Campbell is a fluent speaker of four languages: Cree, Michif, Western Ojibwa, and English. Four of her publish ...

, Canada, b. 1940 * Nicola Campbell,

Interior Salish The Interior Salish languages are one of the two main branches of the Salishan languages, Salishan language family, the other being Coast Salish languages, Coast Salish. It can be further divided into Northern and Southern subbranches. The first S ...

Nleʔkepmx, Canada * Rob Capriccioso, Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa *

Harold Cardinal Harold Cardinal (January 27, 1945 – June 3, 2005) was a Cree writer, political leader, teacher, negotiator, and lawyer. Throughout his career he advocated, on behalf of all First Nation peoples, for the right to be "the red tile in the Can ...

, 1945–2005 * Pedro Cayuqueo,

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

, Chile, b. 1975 * Aaron Albert Carr,

Laguna Pueblo The Laguna Pueblo ( Western Keres: Kawaika ʰɑwɑjkʰɑ is a federally recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people in west-central New Mexico, near the city of Albuquerque, in the United States. Part of the Laguna territory is inclu ...

, b. 1963 *

Marisol Ceh Moo Marisol Ceh Moo (also Sol Ceh born May 12, 1968) is a Mexican Maya writer and professor, born in Calotmul, Yucatán, Mexico. She writes in Yucatec and in Spanish, and is known for her efforts to revitalize and protect the Yucatec Maya language. He ...

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

, Mexico, b. 1968 *

Lorna Dee Cervantes Lorna Dee Cervantes (born August 6, 1954) is an American poet and activist, who is considered one of the greatest figures in Chicano poetry. She has been described by Alurista, as "probably the best Chicana poet active today." Early life Cer ...

Chicana Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American iden ...

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also * Chumash traditional ...

-descent, United States, b. 1954 * Betsey Guppy Chamberlain, Wabanaki, ca. 1797–1886 *

Dean Chavers Dean Chavers (born 1941) is the director of Catching the Dream, formerly known as the Native American Scholarship fund. The organization has produced 679 Native American college graduates since 1987, including 110 educators, 38 doctors, 28 engineer ...

Lumbee The Lumbee are a Native American people primarily centered in Robeson, Hoke, Cumberland and Scotland counties in North Carolina. They also live in surrounding states and Baltimore, Maryland. The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is a state-rec ...

, b. 1942 *

Shirley Cheechoo Shirley Cheechoo ( cr, ᔒᓕᒋᒍ born 1952) is a Canadian Cree actress, writer, producer, director, and visual artist, best known for her solo-voice or monodrama play '' Path With No Moccasins'', as well as her work with De-Ba-Jeh-Mu-Jig th ...

, Canada, b. 1952 * Elicura Chihuailaf Nahuelpán,

, Chile * Chrystos,

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

-descent, b. 1946 *

Eddie Chuculate Eddie Chuculate is an American fiction writer who is enrolled in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and of Cherokee descent. He earned a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University. His first book is ''Cheyenne Madonna''. For ...

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsCherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

, b. 1978 *

Marie Clements Marie Clements (born January 10, 1962) See p. 147. is a Canadian Métis playwright, performer, director, producer and screenwriter. Marie was founding artistic director of urban ink productions, and is currently co-artistic director of red diva pr ...

, Canada, b. 1962 * Susan Clements,

-descent, United States, b. 1950 *

George Clutesi George Clutesi, (1905 – 27 February 1988), was a Tseshaht artist, actor and writer, as well as an expert on and ambassador for all Canadian First Nations culture. Biography Clutesi was born in Port Alberni, British Columbia in 1905. He was ...

Tseshaht First Nation Tseshaht First Nation is an amalgamation of many tribes up and down Alberni Inlet and in the Alberni Valley of central Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. They are a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council which i ...

, Canada, 1905–1988 *

Jacinto Collahuazo Jacinto Collahuazo (born circa 1670; lived past the age of 80, but exact date of death is unknown) was a cacique of Otavalo, Ecuador. He was a Quichuan poet and historian. He was imprisoned by the Spanish for writing a book in Quechua about the w ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

* Thomas Commuck, Narragansett, 1805–1855 * Robert J. Conley,

Cherokee Nation The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...

, 1940–2014 * Pascual Coña,

, Chile, late 1840s–1927 * Ivonne Coñuecar,

, Chile, b. 1980 *

Elizabeth Cook-Lynn Elizabeth Cook-Lynn (born "Elizabeth Irving", Crow Creek Sioux, in 1930) is an editor, essayist, poet, and novelist. She is considered to be outspoken in her views about Native American politics, particularly in regards to tribal sovereignty. Sh ...

, Crow Creek Lakota, b. 1930 * Linda Coombs, Aquinnah Wampanoag * George Copway,

Mississauga Ojibwa The Mississauga are a subtribe of the Anishinaabe-speaking First Nations peoples located in southern Ontario, Canada. They are closely related to the Ojibwe. The name "Mississauga" comes from the Anishinaabe word ''Misi-zaagiing'', meaning " hos ...

, Canada,Porter and Roemer 51 1818–1869 *

Jesse Cornplanter Jesse J. Cornplanter (September 16, 1889 – March 18, 1957) was an actor, artist, author, craftsman, Seneca Faithkeeper and World War I decorated veteran. The last male descendant of Cornplanter, an important 18th-century Haudenosaunee lea ...

, 1889–1957 * Rupert Costo,

Cahuilla The Cahuilla , also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California.Leonard Crow Dog Leonard Crow Dog (August 18, 1942 – June 5, 2021) was a medicine man and spiritual leader who became well known during the Lakota takeover of the town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1973, known as th ...

, 1942–2021 *

Briceida Cuevas Briceida Cuevas, also known as Briceida Cuevas Cob (born Tepakán, Calkiní, Campeche, Mexico, July 12, 1969) is a Mayan poet. She writes poems about everyday life in Yucatec Maya, many of which have been translated into Spanish, French and Engli ...

, Mexico, b. 1969 *

David Cusick David Cusick (1840) was a Tuscarora artist and the author of ''David Cusick's Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations'' (1827). This is an early (if not the first) account of Native American history and myth, written and published in Eng ...

, ca. 1780–ca. 1831

D

* Joseph A. Dandurand,

Kwantlen First Nation Kwantlen First Nation ( hur, qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓) is a First Nations band government in British Columbia, Canada, located primarily on McMillan Island near Fort Langley. The Kwantlen people traditionally speak hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, the Downrive ...

, Canada *

Nora Marks Dauenhauer Nora Marks Keixwnéi Dauenhauer (May 8, 1927 – September 25, 2017) was a Tlingit poet, short-story writer, and Tlingit language scholar from Alaska. She won an American Book Award for ''Russians in Tlingit America: The Battles of Sitka, 1802 An ...

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

, 1927–2017 * Garcilaso de la Vega, 1539–1616,

/ Quechua descent, Peru *

Nora Thompson Dean Nora Thompson Dean (July 3, 1907 – November 29, 1984), also known as Weenjipahkihelexkwe (modern Unami orthography: Weènchipahkihëlèxkwe), which translates as "Touching Leaves Woman" in Unami, was a member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians. As ...

, Touching Leaves Woman,

Delaware Tribe of Indians The Delaware Tribe of Indians, formerly known as the Cherokee Delaware or the Eastern Delaware, based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is one of three federally recognized tribes of the Lenape people in the United States, the others being with the Dela ...

, 1907–1984 *

Philip J. Deloria Philip Joseph Deloria is a historian, author and member of the Dakota Nation who specializes in Native American, Western American, and environmental history. He is the son of scholar Vine Deloria, Jr., and the great nephew of ethnologist Ella ...

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic " Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaks ...

Ella Cara Deloria Ella Cara Deloria (January 31, 1889 – February 12, 1971), also called ''Aŋpétu Wašté Wiŋ'' (Beautiful Day Woman), was a Yankton Dakota (Sioux) educator, anthropologist, ethnographer, linguist, and novelist. She recorded Native American ...

Yankton Dakota The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided in ...

Standing Rock Sioux The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic " Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaks ...

, 1889–1971 * Vine Deloria, Jr.,

, 1933–2005 *

Bonnie Devine Bonnie Devine is a Serpent River Ojibwa installation artist, performance artist, sculptor, curator, and writer from Serpent River First Nation, who lives and works in Toronto, Ontario.Serpent River First Nation The Serpent River First Nation ( oj, Genabaajing Anishinaabek), a signatory to the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850, is an Anishinaabe First Nation in the Canadian province of Ontario, located midway between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury along the ...

, Canada *

Cherie Dimaline Cherie Dimaline () is an Indigenous Canadian writer from the Georgian Bay Métis Nation, a part of Métis Nation of Ontario. She has written a variety of award-winning novels and other acclaimed stories and articles. She is most noted for her 201 ...

, Métis, Canada * Edward Dozier,

, 1916–1971 *

Dawn Dumont Dawn Dumont is the pen name of Dawn Marie Walker'','' a Plains Cree writer, former lawyer, comedian and journalist from the Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada. In 2022, she became the subject of multiple criminal investigations after al ...

Okanese First Nation The Okanese First Nation ( cr, ᐅᑭᓃᐢ, ''okinîs'', literal meaning: ''Little Rose-hip'')Wolvengrey, Arok, editor. Cree: Words. Regina, University of Regina Press, 2001https://itwewina.altlab.app/word/okin%C3%AEs@3//ref> is a Cree-Saulteaux ...

, Canada, b. 1973/1974

E

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 ...

( Hakadah, Ohiyesa),

Santee Dakota The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into ...

, 1858–1939 * Tommy Enuaraq,

, Canada * Heid E. Erdrich, Turtle Mountain Ojibwe, b. 1963 *

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 ...

, Turtle Mountain Ojibwe, b. 1954

F

* Stephanie Fielding,

Mohegan The Mohegan are an Algonquian Native American tribe historically based in present-day Connecticut. Today the majority of the people are associated with the Mohegan Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe living on a reservation in the easte ...

* Connie Fife,

Waawaate Fobister Waawaate Fobister (Anishinaabe) is a Canadian actor, dancer, playwright, choreographer, instructor, producer and storyteller, best known for their semi-autobiographical one-man play, ''Agokwe.'' Early life Fobister grew up on the Grassy Narrow ...

, Grassy Meadows First Nation

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, ...

, Canada *

Naomi Fontaine Naomi Fontaine is a Canadian writer from Quebec, noted as one of the most prominent First Nations writers in contemporary francophone Canadian literature. She is a member of the Innu nation. Biography A member of the Innu nation from Uashat, ...

, Canada * Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, Innu, Canada * Lee Francis III,

, 1945–2003 * Vera Francis,

Passamaquoddy The Passamaquoddy ( Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'') are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America. Their traditional homeland, Peskotomuhkatik'','' straddles the Canadian province of New Brunswick ...

, b. 1958 *

L. Frank L. Frank (born 1952) is the ''nom d'arte'' of L. Frank Manriquez, a Tongva- Ajachmem artist, writer, tribal scholar, cartoonist, and indigenous language activist. She lives and works in Santa Rosa, California. Art In 1990, L. Frank was Artist in ...

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...

Acjachemen The Acjachemen (, alternate spelling: Acagchemem) are an Indigenous people of California. They historically lived south of what is known as Aliso Creek and north of the Las Pulgas Canyon in what are now the southern areas of Orange County and t ...

-descent * Alice Masak French, Inuk, Canada, 1930–2013

G

Eric Gansworth Eric Gansworth is a Haudenosaunee novelist, poet and visual artist. Early life Gansworth was born in 1965 and is an enrolled citizen of the Onondaga Nation; however, he grew up in the Tuscarora Nation as a descendant of one of two Onondaga women ...

Onondaga Onondaga may refer to: Native American/First Nations * Onondaga people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois League * Onondaga (village), Onondaga settlement and traditional Iroquois capita ...

Garcilaso de la Vega (El Inca) Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (12 April 1539 – 23 April 1616), born Gómez Suárez de Figueroa and known as El Inca, was a chronicler and writer born in the Viceroyalty of Peru. Sailing to Spain at 21, he was educated informally there, where he l ...

, Peru, 1539–1616, first published in 1609 *

Andrew George, Jr. Andrew George Jr. is a Canadian chef and writer. Biography George was born in Smithers, British Columbia and grew up in Telkwa, British Columbia. George is the third eldest of six children; George's family lived in a very small four room house ...

, Wet'suwet'en First Nation, Canada b. 1963 *

Janice Gould Janice Gould (1949—2019) was a Koyangk'auwi (Konkow, Concow) Maidu writer and scholar. She was the author of ''Beneath My Heart'', ''Earthquake Weather'' and co-editor with Dean Rader of ''Speak to Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American ...

Maidu The Maidu are a Native American people of northern California. They reside in the central Sierra Nevada, in the watershed area of the Feather and American rivers. They also reside in Humbug Valley. In Maiduan languages, ''Maidu'' means "man." ...

/ Koyangk'auwi, 1949–2019 *

George R. D. Goulet George Richard Donald Goulet is a Canadians, Canadian Métis people (Canada), Métis role model, best-selling author, historian, Métis Scholar, activist, public speaker, retired lawyer, prostate cancer survivor and recipient of the Queen Elizabet ...

, Canada, b. 1933 * Fred Grove,

, 1913–2008 *

Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala (ca. 1535Fane, 165 – after 1616), also known as Huamán Poma or Wamán Poma, was a Quechua nobleman known for chronicling and denouncing the ill treatment of the natives of the Andes by the Spanish after their co ...

, Peru, ca. 1535–after 1616

H

Janet Campbell Hale Janet Campbell Hale (January 11, 1946 – November 23, 2021) was a Native American writer and professor. She was Coeur d'Alene and of Ktunaxa and Cree descent. In a sparse style that has been compared to Hemingway, Hale's work often explored is ...

, Coeur d'Alene-

Kootenay Kootenay, Kootenai, and Kutenai may refer to: Ethnic groups *The Kutenai, also known as the Ktunaxa, Kootenai, or Kootenay, an indigenous people of the United States and Canada **Kutenai language, the traditional language of the Kutenai **Ktunaxa ...

, 1946–2021 *

Terri Crawford Hansen Terri Crawford Hansen (born 1953) is a journalist who focuses primarily on environmental and scientific issues affecting North American tribal and worldwide indigenous communities. Hansen, an enrolled Native American citizen of the Winnebago Tribe ...

Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska ( win, Nįįšoc Hoocąk) is one of two federally recognized tribes of Ho-Chunk Native Americans. The other is the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin. Tribe members often refer to themselves as ''Hochungra'' – "People ...

, b. 1953 * Ann Meekitjuk Hanson,

, Canada, b. 1946 *

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 ...

, Mvskoke, b. 1951 * Suzan Shown Harjo, Mvskoke/

Southern Cheyenne The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are a united, federally recognized tribe of Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne people in western Oklahoma. History The Cheyennes and Arapahos are two distinct tribes with distinct histories. The Cheyenne (Tsi ...

LaDonna Harris LaDonna Vita Tabbytite Harris (born February 26, 1931) is a Comanche Native American social activist and politician from Oklahoma.Fluharty, SterlingHarris, LaDonna Vita Tabbytite profile 'mOklahoma Historical Society Encyclopedia of Oklahoma His ...

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

* Ernestine Hayes,

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

, b. 1945 *

James (Sakej) Youngblood Henderson James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classified as ...

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

, b. 1944 * Gordon Henry,

, b. 1955 *

Natalio Hernández Natalio Hernández Hernández (born 27 July 1947), also known as Natalio Hernández Xocoyotzin and by the pseudonym José Antonio Xokoyotsij, is a Mexican Nahua intellectual and poet, from Lomas del Dorado, Ixhuatlan de Madero the state of Veracru ...

Nahua The Nahuas () are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, a ...

, Mexico, b. 1947 * Hen-Toh (Bertrand N. O. Walker), Wyandotte, 1870–1927 * Vi Hilbert,

Upper Skagit The Upper Skagit Indian Tribe is a federally recognized Native American tribe located in the state of Washington. Before European colonization, the tribe occupied lands along the Skagit River, from as far downstream as present-day Mount Vernon, Wa ...

, 1918–2008 * Carol Anne Hilton

Hesquiaht The Hesquiaht are one of the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples of the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Today the Hesquiaht are governed mostly by the Hesquiaht First Nation band government In Canada, an Indian band or band (fre ...

Nuu-chah-nulth The Nuu-chah-nulth (; Nuučaan̓uł: ), also formerly referred to as the Nootka, Nutka, Aht, Nuuchahnulth or Tahkaht, are one of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast in Canada. The term Nuu-chah-nulth is used to describe fifte ...

, Canada *

Tomson Highway Tomson Highway (born 6 December 1951) is an Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, and children's author. He is best known for his plays ''The Rez Sisters'' and ''Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing'', both of which won the Dora Mavor Moore ...

, Canada, b. 1951 * Linda Hogan,

Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation (Chickasaw language, Chickasaw: Chikashsha I̠yaakni) is a federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe, with its headquarters located in Ada, Oklahoma in th ...

, b. 1947 *

Andrew Hope III Andrew Hope III (December 23, 1949 – August 7, 2008) was a Tlingit Native rights activist and educator. He was born and died in Sitka, Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Al ...

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

, 1949–2008 * John Christian Hopkins, Narragansett, b. 1960 *

George Horse-Capture George Paul Horse Capture (October 20, 1937 – April 16, 2013) (A'aninin) was an anthropologist, activist, and writer. Horse Capture was one of the earlier Native Americans to be a museum curator. He was the first curator of the Plains Ind ...

Gros Ventre The Gros Ventre ( , ; meaning "big belly"), also known as the Aaniiih, A'aninin, Haaninin, Atsina, and White Clay, are a historically Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe located in north central Montana. Today the Gros Ventre people are ...

, 1937–2013 *

Robert Houle Robert Houle (born 1947) is a Saulteaux First Nations Canadian artist, curator, critic,"Robert ...

, Canada, b. 1947 *

LeAnne Howe LeAnne Howe (born April 29, 1951, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) is an American author and Eidson Distinguished Professor in the Department of English at the University of Georgia, Athens. She previously taught American Indian Studies and English ...

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma The Choctaw Nation (Choctaw: ''Chahta Okla'') is a Native American territory covering about , occupying portions of southeastern Oklahoma in the United States. The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United S ...

, b. 1951 *

Ralph Hubbard Ralph "Doc" Hubbard (June 22, 1886 – November 14, 1980) was involved in promoting and preserving Native American culture. He wrote two children's novels with Native American settings, '' Queer Person'' (1930) and ''The Wolf Song'' (1935). Hubb ...

, 1885–1980 * Graciela Huinao,

Huilliche The Huilliche , Huiliche or Huilliche-Mapuche are the southern partiality of the Mapuche macroethnic group of Chile. Located in the Zona Sur, they inhabit both Futahuillimapu ("great land of the south") and, as the Cunco subgroup, the north hal ...

, Chile, b. 1956 *

Beverly Hungry Wolf Beverly Hungry Wolf (Sikski-Aki, or Black-faced Woman; born 1950) is a Canadian writer and a member of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Life She was born Beverly Little Bear in 1950 near Cardston, Alberta, on Blood Indian Reserve No. 148, and studied ...

Blackfoot Confederacy The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...

, Canada, b. 1950 * Al Hunter, Rainy River Ojibwe, Canada

I

Alootook Ipellie Alootook Ipellie (Nuvuqquq, Northwest Territories, 1951 – Ottawa, September 8, 2007) was an Inuk graphic artist, political and satirical cartoonist, writer, photographer, and Inuktitut translator. Early life and education Ipellie was born ...

, Canada, 1951–2007 *

Peter Irniq Piita Taqtu Irniq, formerly Peter Irniq, (born February 1, 1947) is an Inuk politician in Canada, who served as the second commissioner of Nunavut from April 2000 to April 2005. Biography Born in Lyon Inlet near Repulse Bay, Northwest Territ ...

, Canada, b. 1947 * Madeline Ivalu,

, Canada

J

* Paulla Dove Jennings, Narragansett *

Rita Joe Rita Joe, (born Rita Bernard; March 15, 1932 – March 20, 2007) was a Mi'kmaq poet and songwriter, often referred to as the Poet Laureate of the Mi'kmaq people. Biography Rita was born March 15, 1932 in Whycocomagh, Cape Breton Island, N ...

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...

, Canada, 1932–2007 *

Emily Pauline Johnson Emily Pauline Johnson (10 March 1861 – 7 March 1913), also known by her Mohawk stage name ''Tekahionwake'' (pronounced ''dageh-eeon-wageh'', ), was a Canadian poet, author, and performer who was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centur ...

( Tekahionwake),

, Canada, 1861–1913 * Aviaq Johnston, Inuk, Canada * Basil H. Johnston, Wasauksing Ojibway, Canada, 1929–2015 *

Stephen Graham Jones Stephen Graham Jones is a Blackfoot Native American author of experimental fiction, horror fiction, crime fiction, and science fiction. Although his recent work is often classified as horror, he is celebrated for applying more "literary" stylings ...

Blackfeet Tribe The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...

, b. 1972 * William Jones,

Sac and Fox Nation The Sac and Fox Nation ( ''Mesquakie'' language: ''Othâkîwaki / Thakiwaki'' or ''Sa ki wa ki'') is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sauk and Meskwaki (Fox) Indian peoples. Originally from the Lake Huron and Lake Michiga ...

, 1871–1909 *

Edith Josie Edith Josie (December 8, 1921 – January 31, 2010)Gwich'in, Canada, 1921–2010 *

Hugo Jamioy Juagibioy Hugo Jesús Jamioy Juagibioy (born 1971) is a Colombian poet and storyteller. He is an indigenous person from Colombia, who belongs to the Kamëntsa people. Background Jamioy was born in Waman Tabanók (which translated to "Our sacred place o ...

, Kamentsa, Colombia *

Daniel Heath Justice Daniel Heath Justice is an American-born Canadian academic and citizen of the Cherokee Nation. He is professor of First Nations and Indigenous Studies and English at the University of British Columbia. He started his studies at University of Nor ...

, Canada

K

Peter Kalifornsky Peter Kalifornsky (October 12, 1911 – June 5, 1993) was a writer and ethnographer of the Dena'ina Athabaskan of Kenai, Alaska. Early life, family and education He was the great-grandson of Qadanalchen, who took the name Kalifornsky after wo ...

, Dena'ina, 1911–1993 * Joan Kane, Iñupiaq *

Margo Kane Margo Gwendolyn Kane (born August 21, 1951) is a Cree-Saulteaux performing artist and writer known for her solo-voice or monodrama works '' Moonlodge'' and '' Confessions of an Indian Cowboy'', as well as her work with Full Circle First Nations P ...

, Canada, b. 1951 *

An Antane-Kapesh An Antane Kapesh (1926–2004), who also went by the French name Anne(-Marie) André, was an Innu writer and activist from Schefferville, Quebec. She was a chief at Schefferville (Matimekosh) from 1965–1967. In 1976, she published the autobio ...

, Québec, Canada, 1926-2004 * Jacqueline Keeler,

* Maude Kegg,

Mille Lacs Ojibwe The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe ( oj, Misi-zaaga'iganing Anishinaabeg), also known as the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, is a federally recognized American Indian tribe in east-central Minnesota. The Band has 4,302 members as of 2012. Its ho ...

, 1904–1999 * William Kennedy,

, Canada, 1814–1890 *

Maurice Kenny Maurice Frank Kenny (August 16, 1929 – April 16, 2016) was an American poet who identified as Mohawk descent. Life Maurice Frank Kenny was born on August 16, 1929, in Watertown, New York. He identified his father as being of Mohawk and Iris ...

, 1929–2016 *

Robin Wall Kimmerer Robin Wall Kimmerer (born 1953) is an American Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology; and Director, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, at the State University of New York College of Environmental Scien ...

Citizen Potawatomi Nation Citizen Potawatomi Nation is a federally recognized tribe of Potawatomi people located in Oklahoma. The Potawatomi are traditionally an Algonquian-speaking Eastern Woodlands tribe. They have 29,155 enrolled tribal members, of whom 10,312 live in ...

, b. 1953 *

Michael Kusugak Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak ( Inuktitut: ᐊᕐᕚᕐᓗᒃ ᑯᓱᒐᖅ) is a storyteller and a Canadian Inuk children's writer, who tells stories about Arctic and Inuit culture. He was born April 27, 1948, just north of Chesterfield Inlet, at a poi ...

, Canada, b. 1948 * J. D. Kurtness,

, Québec, Canada, b. 1981

L

Francis La Flesche Francis La Flesche (Omaha, 1857–1932) was the first professional Native American ethnologist; he worked with the Smithsonian Institution. He specialized in Omaha and Osage cultures. Working closely as a translator and researcher with the anthro ...

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

Ponca The Ponca ( Páⁿka iyé: Páⁿka or Ppáⁿkka pronounced ) are a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca ...

, 1857–1932Peyer 286 * Susette La Flesche,

, 1854–1903 *

Winona LaDuke Winona LaDuke (born August 18, 1959) is an American economist, environmentalist, writer and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development. In 1996 and 2000, she ran for Vice ...

, b. 1959 *

Carole LaFavor Carole S. LaFavor (1942–2011) was an Ojibwe novelist, Native American civil rights, Native American rights activist and nurse. Known for her HIV/AIDS activism, she was featured in Mona Smith (artist), Mona Smith's 1988 film ''Her Giveway'' about ...

Joseph Laurent Joseph Laurent ( abe, Sozap Lolô; 1839–1917), was an Abenaki chief, best known for authoring an Abenaki language dictionary. He also established a trading post in New Hampshire that is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Biog ...

Abenaki The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...

, 1839–1917 * Ronald G. Lewis,

, b. 1941 *

Georgina Lightning Georgina Lightning is a First Nations film director, screenwriter, and actress. Biography Born in Edmonton, Alberta, she is an enrolled member of the Samson Cree Nation. She was raised off-reserve, near the Samson community in Edmonton, Albert ...

, Sampson First Nation

, Canada *

Darcie Little Badger Darcie Little Badger (born 1987) is an author and an Earth scientist. As an author, she specializes in speculative fiction, especially horror, science fiction and fantasy. Further, as a Lipan Apache, she develops her stories with Apache character ...

Lipan Apache Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan Indigenous people, who have lived in the Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European and African contact, they lived in New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and ...

, b. 1987 *

William Harjo LoneFight William Harjo LoneFight (born 1966), is president and CEO of American Native Services, a consulting firm in Bismarck, North Dakota. An alumnus of Dartmouth College, Oklahoma City University, and Stanford University, LoneFight has served on the b ...

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsNatchez Natchez may refer to: Places * Natchez, Alabama, United States * Natchez, Indiana, United States * Natchez, Louisiana, United States * Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States * Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...

, b. 1966 * Donna M. Loring,

Penobscot The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic pr ...

, b. 1948 *

Kevin Loring Kevin Loring (born November 24, 1974) is a Canadian playwright and actor. As a playwright, he won the Governor General's Award for English-language drama, the Herman Voaden Playwriting Competition and the Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding O ...

, Canada"Where the Blood Mixes draws on healing power of stories"
. ''

The Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...

'', May 28, 2008. Canada *

Adrian C. Louis Adrian C. Louis (April 24, 1946 – September 9, 2018) was an American author. Hailing from Nevada, Louis was a member of Lovelock Paiute tribe who lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He has taught at Oglala Lakota College. H ...

, Lovelock Paiute, 1946–2018 *

Phil Lucas Phil Lucas (1942 – February 4, 2007) was an American filmmaker of mostly Native American themes. He was an actor, writer, producer, director and editor for more than 100 films/documentaries or television programs starting as early as 1979 whe ...

, 1942–2007 * Henrik Lund, Kalaaleq,

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

, 1875–1948

M

Terese Marie Mailhot Terese Marie Mailhot (born 15 June 1983) is a First Nations in Canada, First Nation Canadian (people), Canadian writer, journalist, memoirist, and teacher. Early life and education Mailhot grew up in Sea Bird Island (British Columbia), Seabird ...

, Canada *

Wilma Mankiller Wilma Pearl Mankiller ( chr, ᎠᏥᎳᏍᎩ ᎠᏍᎦᏯᏗᎯ, Atsilasgi Asgayadihi; November 18, 1945April 6, 2010) was a Native American (Cherokee Nation) activist, social worker, community developer and the first woman elected to serve a ...

,Waldman 55 1945–2010 * Larry Spotted Crow Mann,

Nipmuc The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Their historic territory Nippenet, "the freshwater pond place," is in central Massachusetts and nearby part ...

* Vera Manuel, Secwepemc, Canada/

Ktunaxa The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...

, 1949–2010 *

Lee Maracle Bobbi Lee Maracle (born Marguerite Aline Carter; July 2, 1950November 11, 2021) was an Indigenous Canadian writer and academic of the Stó꞉lō nation. Born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, she left formal education after grade 8 to tr ...

Salish Salish () may refer to: * Salish peoples, a group of First Nations/Native Americans ** Coast Salish peoples, several First Nations/Native American groups in the coastal regions of the Pacific Northwest ** Interior Salish peoples, several First Nat ...

, Canada, 1950–2021 *

Joseph M. Marshall III Joseph M. Marshall III (born c. 1946, Brulé Lakota, Sicangu Oyate) son of Joseph Nelson Marshall Sr. and Hazel Lorraine Two Hawk-Marshall, is a historian, writer, teacher, craftsman, administrator, actor, and public speaker. He was a founding b ...

Brulé Lakota The Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands (sometimes called "sub-tribes") of the Teton (Titonwan) Lakota American Indian people. They are known as Sičhą́ǧu Oyáte (in Lakȟóta) —Sicangu Oyate—, ''Sicangu Lakota, o''r "Burnt T ...

, b. ca. 1946 *

Henry Lorne Masta Henry Lorne Masta (born March 9, 1853) was an Abenaki writer, teacher, and scholar of the Abenaki language. He was also a respected leader in the Abenaki community. Masta published ''Abenaki Legends, Grammar, and Place Names'' in 1932. He began writ ...

, 1853–unknown *

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 ...

, Osage, ca. 1894–1979 *

Gerald McMaster Gerald Raymond McMaster (born 9 March 1953, in North Battleford) is a curator, artist, and author and a Plains Cree member of the Siksika Nation.Abbot, LarryGerald McMaster: Plains Cree.''A Time of Visions.'' (retrieved 20 Nov 2009) McMaster is ...

Siksika Nation The Siksika Nation ( bla, Siksiká) is a First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, ...

Red Pheasant First Nation The Red Pheasant Cree Nation ( cr, ᒥᑭᓯᐘᒌᕽ, mikisiwacîhk) is a Plains Cree First Nations band government in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The band's sole reserve, Red Pheasant 108, is south of North Battleford. History ...

, Canada, b. 1953 * William D'Arcy McNickle, Salish Kootenai, 1904–1977 *

Joe Medicine Crow Joseph Medicine Crow (October 27, 1913 – April 3, 2016) was a Native American writer, historian and war chief of the Crow Nation. His writings on Native American history and reservation culture are considered seminal works, but he is best kn ...

Crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifical ...

, 1913–2016 * Rigoberta Menchú, K'iché Maya,

, b. 1959 *

Billy Merasty Billy Merasty (born 1960) is an Aboriginal Canadian actor and writer of Cree descent. Early life Merasty was born in Brochet, Manitoba, Canada. He is the ninth of fourteen siblings born to Viola and Pierre Merasty, and a grandson of Joe Highway, ...

, Canada, b. 1960 * Edmund Metatawabin,

, Canada * Tiffany Midge,

Hunkpapa Lakota The Hunkpapa (Lakota: ) are a Native American group, one of the seven council fires of the Lakota tribe. The name ' is a Lakota word, meaning "Head of the Circle" (at one time, the tribe's name was represented in European-American records as ...

, b. 1965 *

Dylan Miner Dylan Miner is an American artist and assistant professor at Michigan State University. Art As an artist, Miner has exhibited widely, including the Institute of American Indian Arts, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Nation ...

-descent, Canada-

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, b. 1976 * Devon Mihesuah,

, b. 1957 *

Deborah A. Miranda Deborah A. Miranda is a Native American writer, poet, and professor of English at Washington and Lee University. Her father, Alfred Edward Robles Miranda is from the Esselen and Chumash people, native to the Santa Barbara/Santa Ynez/Monterey, Ca ...

, Esselen/

Gabriela Mistral Lucila Godoy Alcayaga (; 7 April 1889 – 10 January 1957), known by her pseudonym Gabriela Mistral (), was a Chilean poet-diplomat, educator and humanist. In 1945 she became the first Latin American author to receive a Nobel Prize in Lite ...

Diaguita The Diaguita people are a group of South American indigenous people native to the Chilean Norte Chico and the Argentine Northwest. Western or Chilean Diaguitas lived mainly in the Transverse Valleys which incised in a semi-arid environment. Ea ...

, 1889–1957 * Lewis Mitchell,

, 1847–1930 *

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 ...

Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...

, b. 1934 *

Carlos Montezuma Carlos Montezuma or Wassaja (c. 1866 – January 31, 1923) was a Yavapai- Apache Native American, activist and a founding member of the Society of American Indians. His birth name, Wassaja, means "Signaling" or "Beckoning" in his native tongue. W ...

Yavapai The Yavapai are a Native American tribe in Arizona. Historically, the Yavapai – literally “people of the sun” (from ''Enyaava'' “sun” + ''Paay'' “people”) – were divided into four geographical bands who identified as separate, i ...

, 1866–1923 *

Patricia Monture-Angus Patricia Monture-Angus (September 24, 1958 – November 17, 2010) was a Canadian Mohawk lawyer, activist, educator and author. Monture-Angus graduated from Queen's University law school in May 1988, and went on to briefly study (but did not gradua ...

, Canada *

Irvin Morris Irvin Morris (born 1958) is a Navajo Nation author from the Tobaahi clan. He has taught at Cornell University, the State University of New York, the University of Arizona, and Dine College. He received his MFA at Cornell University Cornell U ...

, b. 1958 *

Daniel David Moses Daniel David Moses (February 18, 1952 - July 13, 2020) was a First Nations poet and playwright from Canada. Moses was born in Ohsweken, Ontario, and raised on a farm on the Six Nations of the Grand River near Brantford, Ontario, Canada.Colin Bo ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, Canada, 1952–2020 * Mountain Wolf Woman,

Ho-Chunk The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hoocągra or Winnebago (referred to as ''Hotúŋe'' in the neighboring indigenous Iowa-Otoe language), are a Siouan-speaking Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iow ...

, 1884–1960 *

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 ...

, Colville-

, 1888–1936 * Daniel Munduruku,

Munduruku The Munduruku, also known as Mundurucu or Wuy Jugu or BMJ, are an indigenous people of Brazil living in the Amazon River basin. Some Munduruku communities are part of the Coatá-Laranjal Indigenous Land. They had an estimated population in 2014 ...

, Brazil, b. 1964 * Neddiel Muñoz Millalonco,

, Chile

N

* Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk, Inuk, Canada *

Nora Naranjo Morse Nora Naranjo Morse (born 1953) is a Native American artist and poet. She currently resides in Española, New Mexico just north of Santa Fe and is a member of the Santa Clara Pueblo. Her work can be found in several museum collections including t ...

, b. 1953 *

David Neel David Anthony Neel (born April 7, 1960) is a Canadian writer, photographer, and artist who is a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation of coastal British Columbia. Background Neel was born on April 7, 1960, in Vancouver, British Columbia. He i ...

, Kwakwaka'wakw, Canada, b. 1960 *

Duane Niatum Duane Niatum (McGinniss) is a Native American poet, author and playwright from the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe in the northern Olympic Peninsula of the state of Washington. Niatum's work draws inspiration from all aspects of life ranging from natu ...

Klallam Klallam (also Clallam, although the spelling with "K" is preferred in all four modern Klallam communities) refers to four related indigenous Native American/First Nations communities from the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Klallam cult ...

, b. 1938 * Mildred Noble, Naotkamegwanning Ojibway, Canada and United States, 1921–2008 * Jim Northrup (Chibenashi), Fond du Lac Ojibwe, United States, 1943–2016 * nila northSun,

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...

Red Lake Ojibwe The Red Lake Indian Reservation (Ojibwe: ''Miskwaagamiiwi-zaaga'iganing'') covers in parts of nine counties in northwestern Minnesota, United States. It is made up of numerous holdings but the largest section is an area about Red Lake, in n ...

, b. 1951

O

Jean O'Brien Jean Maria O'Brien (born February 2, 1958) is an American historian of White Earth Band of Ojibwe ancestry who specializes in northeastern Woodlands Native Americans in the United States, American Indian history. Life She received her Ph.D. from t ...

, b. 1958 *

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 ...

, 1723–1792, the first Native American known to publish in English * Orpingalik, Netsilik Inuk, Canada *

Simon J. 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 ...

Acoma Pueblo Acoma Pueblo (, kjq, Áakʼu) is a Native American pueblo approximately west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. Four communities make up the village of Acoma Pueblo: Sky City (Old Acoma), Acomita, Anzac, and McCartys. These com ...

, b. 1941Porter and Roemer 155

P

* Aaron Paquette,

, Canada *

Arthur C. Parker Arthur Caswell Parker (April 5, 1881 – January 1, 1955) was an American archaeologist, historian, folklorist, museologist and noted authority on Native American culture. Of Seneca and Scots-English descent, he was director of the Roc ...

, 1881–1955 * Daniel N. Paul,

, Canada, b. 1938 * Mihku Paul, Kingsclear First Nation

Maliseet The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...

, Canada, b. 1958 *

Elise Paschen Elise Paschen (born January 1959) is an American poet and member of the Osage Nation. She is the co-founder and co-editor of Poetry in Motion, a program which places poetry posters in subways and buses across the country. Career and education Th ...

"The Osage Nation will host Writers Summit."
''Osage Nation.'' Retrieved 8 July 2012. * Markoosie Patsauq, Inuk, Canada * William S. Penn,

Nez Perce The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...

, b. 1949 * Robert L. Perea,

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

, United States *

Keewaydinoquay Peschel Keewaydinoquay Pakawakuk Peschel (1919 – July 21,1999) was a scholar, ethnobotanist, herbalist, medicine woman, teacher and author. She claimed she was an Anishinaabeg Elder of the Crane Clan. She was born in Michigan around 1919 and spent time ...

, 1919–1999 * Paula Peters,

Wampanoag The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...

* Lawrence "Pun" Plamondon", Grand Traverse Odawa-Ojibwe, b. 1946 *

Peter Pitseolak Peter Pitseolak (1902–1973) was an Inuk photographer, sculptor, artist and historian. Pitseolak was Baffin Island's first indigenous photographer. Life Pitseolak was born September 2, 1902 on Nottingham Island, Northwest Territories. He liv ...

Cape Dorset Kinngait (Inuktitut meaning "high mountain" or "where the hills are"; Syllabics: ᑭᙵᐃᑦ), formerly known as Cape Dorset until 27 February 2020, is an Inuit hamlet located on Dorset Island near Foxe Peninsula at the southern tip of Baffin ...

, Canada, 1902–1973 *

Simon Pokagon Simon Pokagon ( 1830- January 28, 1899) was a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, an author, and a Native American advocate. He was born near Bertrand in southwest Michigan Territory and died on January 28, 1899 in Hartford, Michi ...

, Pokagon Potawatomi, ca. 1830–1899 *

Marie Mason Potts Marie Mason Potts (1895 – 1978), also known as Chankutpan, or "One With Sharp Eyes", née Marie Mason; she was a Mountain Maidu cultural leader, activist, educator, writer, journalist, and editor. She was an influential California Native Americ ...

Mountain Maidu The Maidu are a Native American people of northern California. They reside in the central Sierra Nevada, in the watershed area of the Feather and American rivers. They also reside in Humbug Valley. In Maiduan languages, ''Maidu'' means "man." ...

, United States, 1895–1978 *

Alexander Posey Alexander Lawrence Posey (August 3, 1873 – May 27, 1908) was an American poet, humorist, journalist, and politician in the Creek Nation.Schneider 190 He founded the '' Eufaula Indian Journal'' in 1901, the first Native American daily newspaper ...

Muscogee (Creek) Nation The Muscogee Nation, or Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a federally recognized Native American tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The nation descends from the historic Muscogee Confederacy, a large group of indigenous peoples of the South ...

, 1873–1908Porter and Roemer 323 * Susan Power,

, b. 1961 * Pretty-Shield,

Crow Nation The Crow, whose Exonym and endonym, autonym is Apsáalooke (), also spelled Absaroka, are Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, th ...

, 1856–1944

Q

Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley Rachel Attituq Qitsualik-Tinsley is a Canadian writer. She was a winner of the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature in 2015 for ''Skraelings'', which she cowrote with her husband Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley. The book was also a ...

, Canada * Quesalid, Kwakwaka'wakw, Canada *

Taamusi Qumaq Taamusi Qumaq, (January 1, 1914 – July 13, 1993) was an Inuit historian, linguist, writer, politician and elder from Nunavik, Quebec, Canada, who contributed to the preservation of the Inuit language and traditional culture. Despite lack ...

, Canada, 1914-1993

R

* Anselmo Raguileo Lincopil,

, Chile, 1922–1992 * Chief Henry Red Eagle, (Henry Perley),

, 1885–1972 *

Delphine Red Shirt Delphine Red Shirt (born 1957) is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American author and educator, who is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation.Mihesuah 678 Early life and education Delphine Red ...

, b. 1957 *

Duke Redbird Dr.Duke Redbird (born 1939) is an Indigenous Canadian poet, journalist, activist, businessman, actor and administrator, best known as a key figure in the development of First Nations literature in Canada. An Ojibwe from the Saugeen First Nation i ...

, Saugeen Ojibwe, Canada, b. 1939 *

Bill Reid William Ronald Reid Jr. (12 January 1920 – 13 March 1998) ( Haida) was a Canadian artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year career, Reid is ...

Haida Haida may refer to: Places * Haida, an old name for Nový Bor * Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands * Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia Ships * , a 1 ...

, Canada, 1920–1998 *

Carter Revard Carter Curtis Revard (March 25, 1931 – January 3, 2022) was an American poet, scholar, and writer. He was of European American and Osage descent, and grew up on the tribal reservation in Oklahoma. He had his early education in a one-room sc ...

, 1931–2022 *

Lawney Reyes Lawney L. Reyes (1931 – August 10, 2022) was an American Sin-Aikst artist, curator, and memoirist, based in Seattle, Washington. Biography Lawney Reyes was born in 1931 to Mary Christian, Sin-Aikst (now known as the Sinixt). Historically ...

, Confederated Colville Tribes (

Sinixt The Sinixt"Sinixt Nation…" (also known as the Sin-Aikst or Sin Aikst,Reyes 2002, ''passim.'' "Senjextee", "Arrow Lakes Band", or — less commonly in recent decades — simply as "The Lakes") are a First Nations People. The Sinixt are ...

), b. 1951 *

Waubgeshig Rice Waubgeshig Isaac Rice is an Anishinaabe writer and journalist from the Wasauksing First Nation near Parry Sound, Ontario, in Canada.

, Wasauksing Ojibwe, Canada"Waubgeshig Rice has to tell real aboriginal stories"
''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'', November 17, 2015. *

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 ...

, United States, 1899–1954 * Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui,

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

, Bolivia, b. 1949 * David A. Robertson,

, Canada, b. 1977 *

Eden Robinson Eden Victoria Lena Robinson (born 19 January 1968) is an Indigenous Canadian author. She is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations.Haisla Haisla may refer to: * Haisla people, an indigenous people living in Kitamaat, British Columbia, Canada. * Haisla language, their northern Wakashan language. * Haisla Nation The Haisla Nation is the Indian Act-mandated band government which nominall ...

Heiltsuk The Heiltsuk or Haíɫzaqv , sometimes historically referred to as ''Bella Bella'', are an Indigenous people of the Central Coast region in British Columbia, centred on the island community of Bella Bella. The government of the Heiltsuk people ...

, Canada, b. 1968 *

Henry Roe Cloud Henry Roe Cloud (December 28, 1884 – February 9, 1950) was a Ho-Chunk Native American, enrolled in the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, who served as an educator, college administrator, U.S. federal government official (in the Office of Indian Af ...

, 1884–1950 *

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 ...

( Yellow Bird),

, 1827–1867 *

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

, 1879–1935 *

Will Rogers, Jr. William Vann Rogers, generally known as Will Rogers Jr. (October 20, 1911 – July 9, 1993), was an American politician, writer, and newspaper publisher. He was the eldest son of humorist Will Rogers (1879–1935) and Betty Blake Rogers (1879– ...

, 1911–1993 *

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 The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...

/Miwok, b. 1948 * Ian Ross (playwright), Ian Ross,

, Canada, b. 1960 * Armand Garnet Ruffo, Chapleau Cree First Nation, Chapleau

, Canada, b. 1955 * Steve Russell (writer), Steve Russell,

, 1947–2021

S

* Ray St. Germain,

, Canada * Carol Lee Sanchez,

* William Sanders (writer), William Sanders,

, 1942–2017 * Greg Sarris, Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, b. 1952 * Cheryl Savageau,

, b. 1950 * Madeline Sayet,

, b. 1989 * Katherine Siva Saubel, Los Coyotes Cahuilla, 1920–2011 * Gregory Scofield,

, Canada, b. 1966 * Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Sault Ste. Marie Ojibwe, 1800–1841, first Native woman to publish * Bev Sellars, Soda Creek/Deep Creek Band, Xat'sull, Canada * James Sewid, Kwakwaka'wakw, Canada, 1913–1988 * María Clara Sharupi Jua, Shuar, Ecuador, b. 1964 * Charles Norman Shay,

, b. 1924 * Paula Sherman, Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, Canada * Kim Shuck,

* Angela Sidney, Tagish people, Tagish, Canada, 1902–1991 * Leslie Marmon Silko,

, b. 1948Porter and Roemer 326 * Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Alderville First Nation, Canada * :fr:Jocelyn Sioui, Jocelyn Sioui, Huron-Wendat Nation, Québec, Canada * Ruby Slipperjack, Eabametoong Ojibwe, Canada, b. 1952 * Cynthia Leitich Smith, Muscogee Creek, b. 1967 * Monique Gray Smith, Cree/Lakota, Canada * Paul Chaat Smith,

/Choctaw * Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve,

, b. 1933 * Donald Soctomah,

* Loren Spears, Narragansett * Luther Standing Bear,

, ca. 1868–1939 * James Thomas Stevens, Akwesasne, Akwesasne Mohawk, b. 1966 * Virginia Stroud, United Keetoowah Band Cherokee/

Muscogee The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsWhite Earth Ojibwe The White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, also called the White Earth Nation ( oj, Gaa-waabaabiganikaag Anishinaabeg, "People from where there is an abundance of white clay"), is a federally recognized Native American band located ...

, Poet Laureate of Wisconsin 2004 * James Schoppert,

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

, 1947–1992

T

* Margo Tamez,

/Jumano Indians, Jumano Apache, b. 1962 * Gladys Tantaquidgeon,

, 1899–2005 * Luci Tapahonso,

, b. 1953 * Drew Hayden Taylor,

, Canada, b. 1962 * Ningeokuluk Teevee, Inuit, Cape Dorset Inuk, Canada, b. 1963 * Clayton Thomas-Müller,

, CanadaShawn Conner
"In new memoir, activist Thomas-Muller traces impact of extraction industries on First Nations, and his own life"
''Vancouver Sun'', September 1, 2021. * Lucy Thompson, Yurok people, Yurok 1853–1932, first indigenous Californian woman to be published * Russell Thornton,

, b. 1942 * Shannon Thunderbird, Tsimshian First Nation, Canada * Susette LaFlesche Tibbles,

/Iowa tribe, Iowa, 1854–1903 * George Tinker,

* Natalia Toledo, Zapotec peoples, Zapotec, Mexico, b. 1968 * Gail Tremblay,

, b. 1945 * Raymond D. Tremblay,

, Canada * David Treuer, Leech Lake Ojibwe, b. 1970 * John Trudell,

, 1946–2015 * Demetrio Túpac Yupanqui,

, Peru, 1923–2018 * Mark Turcotte, Turtle Mountain Chippewa * Richard Twiss,

, 1954–2013 * Arielle Twist,

* E. Donald Two-Rivers,

, 1945–2008 * Froyla Tzalam, Mopan people, Mopan Maya, Belize

U

* Uvavnuk, Iglulik Inuk, Canada

V

* Richard Van Camp, Tli Cho, Canada, b. 1971 * Gerald Vizenor,

, b. 1934

W

* Richard Wagamese,

, Canada * Bertrand N. O. Walker (Hen-Toh), Wyandotte, 1870–1927 * Velma Wallis, Athabaskan, b. 1960 * Juan Wallparrimachi,

, Bolivia, 1793–1814 * Anna Lee Walters, Pawnee people, Pawnee/ Otoe-Missouria, b. 1946 * William Whipple Warren,

, 1825–1853 * Clyde Warrior, Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, Ponca, 1939–1968 * Waziyatawin (Angela Wilson), Wahpetunwan Dakota people, Dakota * Matthew James Weigel, Denesuline/Métis"22 debut Canadian poetry collections to read for National Poetry Month"
CBC Books, April 8, 2022. * James Welch (writer), James Welch, Piegan Blackfeet, Blackfeet/

, 1940–2003 * Gwen Westerman, Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Oyate /

* Tom Whitecloud, Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe, 1914–1972 * Mary Louise Defender Wilson, Dakota people, Dakota/

, b. 1930 * Sarah Winnemucca (Thocmentony), Northern Paiute, ca. 1844–1891 * Elizabeth Woody,

/Wasco-Wishram, b. 1957 * Muriel Hazel Wright,

, 1889–1975

Y

* William S. Yellow Robe, Jr., Fort Peck Assiniboine, 1962–2021 * Annie York, Spuzzum First Nation

, Canada, 1904–1991 * Ray Young Bear, Meskwaki, b. 1950 * Alfred Young Man, Chippewa-Cree, Canada and United States, b. 1948

Z

* Ofelia Zepeda, Tohono O'odham, b. 1952 * Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin),

, 1876–1938 * Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, Mohegan Indian Tribe, Mohegan, b. 1960

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures

NativeWiki literature pages

* [http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/alfa.html Storytellers: Native American Authors Online].
Yax Te' Books catalog
publishing house for Mayan literature in Mayan, Spanish and English. {{DEFAULTSORT:Writers From Peoples Indigenous To The Americas Indigenous writers of the Americas, Lists of writers, Indigenous Native American writers, First Nations writers, Lists of American writers, Indigenous Lists of indigenous people of the Americas, Writers Lists of Native American people Lists of Canadian writers