Santa Fe Reads 2022
2022 Santa Fe Reads
Art Contest Winner
Essay Contest Winner
Poetry Contest Winners
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
Robert Francis “Mudman” Johnson
1st Runner-Up
2nd Runner-Up
3rd Runner-Up
READ · REFLECT · ENGAGE · CREATE
September 17 – November 5, 2022
Connect with our community to explore the theme of Indigenous cultural reclamation through the 2022 Santa Fe Reads selected works and program activities. We look forward to seeing you at all of our events.
Check out the full list of events at: https://santafereads.weebly.com/
Santa Fe Reads 2022, part of the NEA Big Read, is presented by the City of Santa Fe Public Library with the support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Midwest, local sponsors, and community partners.
FEATURED SELECTION
There There by Tommy Orange
There There follows twelve characters from Native communities—all connected to each other in ways they may not yet realize—as they travel to the Big Oakland Powwow. Jacquie Red Feather is newly sober and working to make it back to the family she left behind. Dene Oxendene, who is pulling his life back together after his uncle’s death, has come to work at the powwow to honor his memory. Fourteen-year-old Orvil has come to perform traditional dance for the very first time. Together, a chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty, spirituality, communion, sacrifice, and heroism. Hailed as an instant classic, There There is at once poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, utterly contemporary and unforgettable.
YOUNG ADULT SELECTIONS
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Firekeeper’s Daughter is a thriller told through the eyes of 18-year-old Daunis—a biracial, unenrolled member of the Ojibwe tribe. With crystal meth abuse on the rise in her community, Daunis uses her knowledge of science and native medicine to go undercover as a confidential informant with the FBI. What she uncovers makes her question everything she’s ever known.
Healer of the Water Monster by Brian Young
Healer of the Water Monster captures an epic hero’s journey of 11-year-old Nathan when he visits his grandma, Nali, at her mobile home on the Navajo reservation. With no electricity or cell service, Nathan expected a pretty uneventful summer. Wandering into the desert, he encounters Pond, an ailing water monster. With the help of a communication stone, he enters a world of Navajo cosmology to help save Pond.
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
In The Marrow Thieves, humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The Indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden—but what they don’t know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.
PICTURE BOOK SELECTIONS
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Maillard
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Maillard is a tale told in verse about a unifying cultural food: something universal across tribes, but also something that everyone can eat. “Fry bread is food. It is warm and delicious, piled high on a plate. Fry bread is time. It brings families together for meals and new memories…”
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
We Are Water Protectors was written in response to Indigenous-led environmental protests. It tells the story of a young Ojibwe girl and her people as they take on the “black snake” of an oil pipeline threatening their way of life, and rally to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption.