Here Are 7 Powerful Books Written by Indigenous Women

Poet Warrior: A Memoir by Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo, the first Native American to serve as U.S. poet laureate, invites readers into the world that she was raised in, the world that taught her how to write poetry of compassion and healing. She recounts ancestral poetry, music and stories of owls heralding grief and resilient desert plants. She acknowledges and celebrates the influences that shaped her poetry, among them Audre Lorde, N. Scott Momaday, Walt Whitman, Muscogee stomp dance call-and-response, Navajo horse songs, rain and sunrise. Poet Warrior is a memoir detailing her grief at the loss of her mother, the theft of her ancestral homeland and a celebration of the rituals that make up her life as a poet and Indigenous woman.