Rosenberry Lecture: Why Indigenous Crime Fiction Matters

Join us for a discussion on how Indigenous crime fiction is uniquely suited to tackle complex topics such as colonization and sovereignty

Join award-winning novelist and professor of Native American Studies and Political Science David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Sicangu Lakota Nation) for a discussion on how Indigenous crime fiction is uniquely suited to tackle complex topics such as colonization and sovereignty. Weiden will examine how the genre can inform non-Native readers about the little-known inequities on reservations and in urban areas while also examining systemic issues that affect Native citizens in the American political system.

A book signing will follow the talk.

David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, is the author of Winter Counts (Ecco, 2020), which was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel. The novel won the Electa Quinney Award from the Association for the Study of American Indian Literature. The book was also the winner of the Anthony, Thriller, Lefty, Barry, Macavity, Spur, High Plains, Tillie Olsen, CrimeFest (UK), Crime Fiction Lover (UK) Awards, and was longlisted for the Hammett Prize, Shamus Award, Colorado Book Award, Reading the West Award, and the VCU Cabell First Novel Award. The novel was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, an Indie Next pick, the main selection of the Book of the Month Club, and named the Best Book of the Year by NPR, Amazon, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, The Guardian, and other magazines. The novel is included in Time magazine’s list of the 100 best mystery and thriller novels ever.