BOSTON, MA – October 29, 2025 – To honor National Native American Heritage Month, the Boston Public Library (BPL) is releasing Native Lives, Native Stories, a booklist of recent titles focusing on the cultures, histories, experiences, and diversity of the Native American communities. Celebrated annually in November, Native American Heritage Month acknowledges the unique traditions and important contributions of Indigenous Peoples. The BPL will also observe Native American Heritage Month by hosting special events across branches.
The Native Lives, Native Stories booklist, featuring selected books written by Indigenous authors or about Indigenous history and culture, is compiled by staff librarians from the Chinatown, Connolly, Roslindale, and West End branches, along with staff from the Central Library in Copley Square. The 69 titles comprising Native Lives, Native Stories highlight selections for adults, teenagers, and children by authors such as Darcie Little Badger, Louise Erdrich, Stephen Graham Jones, Amanda Peters, and Cynthia Leitich Smith. Genres from this collection include biography, expressions, history and contemporary issues, and fiction.
Each book listing contains a brief synopsis and is accompanied by an image of the book cover as well as classification information. In addition to print books, select titles are available as eBooks or audiobooks.
Along with the booklist, the BPL will celebrate National Native American Heritage Month with lectures, film screenings, book group discussions, cooking workshops, and more. The full list of programs can be found at bpl.org/events. Highlights include:
- Quahogs: A Wampanoag Food Stable (Cooking with Shellfish Series) | November 1, Shaw-Roxbury | Quahogs are a traditional and staple food in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, indigenous to the lands of present-day Massachusetts and Eastern Rhode Island. Join Wampanoag shellfish farmer Corey Hendricks and our Chef-in-Residence Kayla Tabb to learn how to buy the best quahogs, how to clean and prep them, and how to cook with them.
- Documentary Club: Bearing Witness: Native American Voices in Hollywood | November 4, Mattapan | A film screening and group discussion of Bearing Witness: Native American Voices in Hollywood, which focuses on often problematic portrayals of Native Americans in film. In this documentary, only Native Americans are given a voice to share their story, one that has been overshadowed by Hollywood's portrayal. Their narrative, part of the larger American story, highlights how cinema has long been used as a powerful propaganda tool, distorting history and perpetuating harmful stereotypes.
- Tomes on Tap at Widowmaker: Trail of Lightning (by Rebecca Roanhorse) | November 6, Brighton/Widowmaker Taproom and Kitchen | A group book discussion of Trail of Lightning, a 2018 urban fantasy novel by Rebecca Roanhorse, which follows a monster hunter looking for a missing girl in the wake of recent killings; set in the post-apocalypse on what was once a Navajo reservation.
- Oysters: A Wampanoag Food Stable (Cooking with Shellfish Series) | November 10, Shaw-Roxbury | Oysters are a traditional and staple food in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, indigenous to the lands of present-day Massachusetts and Eastern Rhode Island. Join Wampanoag shellfish farmer Corey Hendricks and our Chef-in-Residence Kayla Tabb to learn how to buy the best oysters, how to clean and prep them, and how to cook with them.
- The Scoop: Book Club | November 18, South End/FoMu Ice Cream | A discussion of To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose, a coming-of-age fantasy about a young Indigenous girl who hatches and bonds with a dragon, challenging colonial norms and fighting to protect her new companion. Praised for its world-building and cultural depth, the novel recently won the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction.
- 13 Moons & 12,000 Years: Wampanoag History Past & Present | November 18, Central | Indigenous Museum Educator Tim Turner (Cherokee Nation) of Plimoth Patuxet Museums leads a conversation exploring 12,000 years of Wampanoag history, highlighting how Wampanoag communities have adapted and sustained their traditions through changing natural, social, and political landscapes.
- Radical Reads: The Lost Journals of Sacajewea | November 20, Online | A group book discussion of Indigenous author Debra Magpie Earling's 2010 novel, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, a revisionist history of Sacajewea, the Lemhi Shoshone woman who, while still a teenager, provided critical assistance to the Lewis and Clark expedition in their exploration of the Louisiana Territory.
- Map Collection Open House — Indigenous Geographies | November 21, Central | A map collection showing highlighting Indigenous geographies, where we’ll be exploring collections that document Native life and land in New England and beyond. Leventhal Map & Education Center staff members will be available to answer questions.
- Friday Films: Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001) | November 21, Parker Hill | A film screening of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner — first feature film ever to be written, directed, and acted entirely in the Inuktitut language — which retells an Inuit legend passed down through centuries of oral tradition. It revolves around the title character, whose marriage to his two wives earns him the animosity of the son of the band leader, who kills Atanarjuat's brother and forces Atanarjuat to flee on foot.
- The Food Group: New Native Kitchen - Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian (by Freddie Bitsoie and James O. Fraioli) | November 22, Brighton | A group book discussion of New Native Kitchen: Celebrating Modern Recipes of the American Indian by Chef Freddie Bitsoie and James O. Fraioli. Prepare a dish with a recipe from this cookbook and bring it in to share with your Brighton friends and neighbors as we talk about the book — or just bring your appetite! Making a dish is not required to attend this program.
- Mussels: A Wampanoag Food Stable (Cooking with Shellfish Series) | November 24, Shaw-Roxbury | Mussels are a traditional and staple food in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, indigenous to the lands of present-day Massachusetts and Eastern Rhode Island. Join Wampanoag shellfish farmer Corey Hendricks and our Chef-in-Residence Kayla Tabb to learn how to buy the best mussels, how to clean and prep them, and how to cook with them.
Physical copies of the Native Lives, Native Stories booklist will be available at all BPL locations starting November 1, 2025; it can also be accessed digitally. In addition, the booklist and information about National Native American Heritage Month programs will also appear on the BPL website at bpl.org and on the BPL social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram).
Patrons can view many years' worth of prior affinity booklists, such as those from Black History Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, LGBTQ+ Pride Month, Disability Pride Month, and Hispanic Heritage Month in an online archive.
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