Knit Camp Sedona Reading List
Just one month until Knit Camp Sedona! All you have to do is show up…but if you are someone who likes to learn about your destination ahead of time, immerse yourself in place through writing and stories, and understand culture, history, and context, I’ve compiled a reading list for you!
This reading lists focuses on native experiences of the people in the Southwest - Yavapai in present day Central Arizona around Sedona, the Apache of Eastern Arizona, and the Diné (Navajo) and Hopi in the 4-Corners region. You’ll find fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and memoir primarily by native authors plus a few books by other writers who I think respectfully contribute insight about historical and modern life in the southwestern desert.
Books are hyperlinked to Birchbark Books (a native owned book store in Minneapolis), other independent bookstores, or publishers.
If you just read 3….
Healer of the Water Monster - Midgrade Fiction (would make for a great audio book for the trip)
Gathad La Ha: The Coyote - Yavapai Fable in English and Yavapai
Fiction
Healer of the Water Monster - Midgrade Fiction
Thief of Time - Murder Mystery
Her Land, Her Love - Historical Fiction, romance, saga
Fiber and Arts
Spider Women’s Children: Navajo Weavers Today – Nonfiction
Returning Home: Diné Creative Works from Indian School - Enthographic Study
How to Weave a Navajo Rug: and Other Lessons from Spider Woman
Food
The Modern Navajo Kitchen – Cookbook
Food Sovereignty the Navajo Way – Biography and Cookbook
Seed to Plate, Soil to Sky – Cook Book
Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations – Cook Book
Poetry, Essays, and Short Stories
Blue Horses Rush In – Poetry and Short Stories
The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket by Kinsale Drake – Birchbark Books
The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature - Anthology
Beyond the Glittering World - Anthology of stories
Nihikéyah: Navajo Homeland – Anthology of essays
Instructions for Traveling West – Poetry
A Fieldguide to Getting Lost – Essay, Memoir, Creative Nonfiction