FOUNDER/DIRECTOR

IG: @kinsalehues, Twitter: @KinsaleDrake

Favorite Book: The Night Watchman

CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD

IG: @tristandouville

Favorite Book: Fifty Miles from Tomorrow by Willie Hensley

Tristan is Tlingit of the Shankw’eidí (eagle, wolf, killer whale) clan from Hinyaa Ḵwáan (Klawock, Alaska). He assisted in the planning and execution of the 2025 Alaska Book Drop, delivering 6,500+ books to Lingít Aaní (Southeast Alaska) from the northernmost village to the southernmost village. Tristan feels so blessed to support the NDN Girls Book Club mission and fight back against the suppression of Native, 2SLGBT+ representation in youth literature, stateside and worldwide.

CO-COORDINATOR AND COMMUNITY MANAGER

IG: @herculilz

Favorite Book: The Way to Rainy Mountain

Lily is from the KCA Land Reservation in southern Oklahoma. She is a writer, poet, educator, and creative whose  multidisciplinary work focuses on how creation, education, community movements and art can detail and address critical contemporary social issues. Lily is 2025 Champion for Change with the Center for Native American Youth out of the Aspen Institute. Her work has been featured in PBS, Yahoo!, Meta, Teen Vogue, and The Academy of American Poets.

YOUTH MENTOR

IG: @mintytealove

Favorite Book: Velvet Dragonflies

Pte San Win Little Whiteman is an Oglala Lakota poet who uses poetry for advocacy and healing. Most of their poetry highlights mental health awareness, environmental, racial, and social justice, land/body relationships, and language revitalization. They are Brave New Voices alumni and have experience performing on stages such as The Kennedy Center, Native Pop, Black Hills Artist Market, and Poetry Out Loud. They are a winner of the Tribal College Journal Creative Writing Contest.

BOARD MEMBER

Gusti Rattling Hawk is an Oglala Lakota scientist and storyteller with expertise in Indigenous environmentalism, climate resilience, and conservation. They have worked with various organizations, including Intertribal Buffalo Council, First Peoples Fund, and American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC).

Favorite Book: Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger and Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

VICE CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD

Jasmine D. James (Aa Geich’) is Lingít, Galyax̱ Kaagwaantaan, child of the L’uknaa.x̱’ádi from Yakutat. She is a mother of two, an educator, and a youth advocate whose work centers Indigenous identity, literacy, and leadership.

Jasmine serves as Youth Engagement Manager for the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, where she leads a comprehensive division of culturally grounded programs serving Indigenous youth across Southeast Alaska. Under her leadership, initiatives such as Johnson O’Malley, Youth Wellness & Prevention, Wayfinders mentoring, and the Native Boys & Girls Club work together to support academic success, cultural identity, mental wellness, and college and career pathways.

FICTION MENTOR

About Danielle!

SECRETARY

IG: @makes.laughter

Ksé:hahiyé Evynn Richardson is a proud citizen of the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe of Hollister, NC. She has served on the National UNITY Council Executive Committee as both the Southeastern Representative and the Vice-President for 3 consecutive years, was an inaugural member of CNAY’s Remembering Our Sisters fellowship, and is a Native Americans in Philanthropy’s Native Youth Grantmaker.

Favorite Books: Bad Cree by Jessica Johns, Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina, Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Native activists occupied Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay in 1969 with the intent to raise public awareness about Federal Indian Policies, declare Alcatraz once-again Native land, and create a sovereign community focused on education and care. “Indians of All Tribes Alcatraz Newsletter” was published over the course of the occupation, featuring art and poetry from activists, community members, and youth on the island.

In 1974, Barbara Smith and other Black feminists founded the Combahee River Collective, created to address the needs of Black lesbian women. Their statement, which was released in 1977 and credited with coining the term “identity politics,” along with their demonstrations and partnerships with artists, laid the groundwork for many BIPOC organizations and artist collectives, including Afro-Indigenous ones, to reflect on their own relationships to oppression and address their specific needs leading to liberation.

Diet Pepsi & Nacho Cheese is a chapbook of poetry published in 1977 by nila northSun’s and her then-husband’s press, Duck Down Press, which was based in Nevada. The book was nila’s first published collection of poetry. Chapbooks were becoming an increasingly popular form of self- or small-scale publishing at the time because artists could retain greater control over their work. Today, many Native writers self-publish their own work or collaborate with Native-run presses.

Originally published in 1981, This Bridge Called My Back has been referred to as a cornerstone of women of color feminisms, intersectionality, and writings. This anthology was one of the first published collaborations between Indigenous feminist scholars and poets, Black feminist writers, and other feminist writers of color. The anthology helped to form solidarity, propel careers, and inspire movements in the late 20th century, contributing to the rise of the fields of Indigenous feminisms and Indigenous feminist poetics. Chrystos (they/them; Menominee, 2S), most notably, was first widely published in this anthology.

In 1992, Native authors gathered at the first Returning the Gift conference in Norman, Oklahoma, which coincided with the city’s first observance of Indigenous Peoples Day. This conference marked the largest gathering at the time of Native writers, organized by Native writers, and led to a flurry of publishing. Attendees included Simon Ortiz, Linda Hogan, Jeanette Armstrong, and more.

Published in 1993 by Silko’s Flood Plain Press, Sacred Water presents a semi-autobiographical narrative of water; its cosmologies and pedagogies; its relationship to the speaker and her community; and the impacts of settler colonialism and environmental degradation. Features Silko’s own drawings and photographs.