The old woman imagined that the girl was Cree and enemy and plotted ways to slit her throat. One day, the flint striker would do; another day she favored the paring knife she kept hidden in her legging. Day after day, these two sat across each other until the pile of movie magazines spread halfway across the room and the paring knife grew heavy in the old lady’s eyes.

James Welch – Winter in the Blood

The two main characters of my story are Native Americans (Lakota Ogalala). This prompted me to read novels from Native writers and is how I discovered so many wonderful storytellers.

Winter in the Blood was the first Native novel I read and is still one of my favourit. James Welch (Blackfeet/Gros Ventre) writes with a powerful voice. When he describes people and places, you can always see beyond his words. There is a whole universe of symbols and meaning inside every one of his characters, every one of their choices, every one of their gestures. There are stories inside his stories, if you want to see them.

That’s why I like his work so much.

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