Native authors, artists and storytellers participating in the 2023 Native American Read-In:

Angeline Boulley

Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education, Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island. "Firekeeper’s Daughter," her debut novel, was an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller. The book has received the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature, the Printz Award, the William C. Morris award for YA debut literature, and was an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book.

She grew up in the lower Michigan peninsula in New Buffalo but spent time each summer in the upper Michigan peninsula where she was born, on the sovereign lands of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians visiting her grandparents and cousins. The first to go to college in her family, Boulley attended Central Michigan University. Her identity as a Native American has been influenced the most by a network of “strong Anishinaabe Kwewag (Native American women)” as well as her father, who is a traditional firekeeper, a person who is entrusted to strike ceremonial fires and observe traditional protocol at tribal functions that are spiritual in nature “while providing cultural teachings through stories told around the fire.”

Tony Duncan

Tony Duncan (Apache, Arikara and Hidatsa) has performed for audiences worldwide including performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Smithsonian Museum, The Billboard Music Awards, The Tonight Show, and The White House. Duncan has great achievements in both music and dance. As a hoop dancer Tony Duncan is among the best in the world, winning the title of “World Champion Hoop Dancer,” an amazing 6 times and is currently the 2021/22 World Hoop Dance Champion. He is the featured dancer on Nelly Furtado's music video, "Big Hoops.”

As a flute player, he is currently signed to the largest Native American music label Canyon Records. Duncan received the award for Artist of the Year at the Native American Music Awards. Duncan has toured with acclaimed Native American artists such as R. Carlos Nakai and Joanne Shenandoah, as well as across Europe and Asia with international pop star, Nelly Furtado. He’s enchanted over 100,000 people in Paris, London, Tokyo, Manila, Switzerland and the Island of Malta with his hoop dancing and flute playing. 

Tony Duncan was the recipient of the prestigious Dance/USA Fellowship, and recently has collaborated with Marvel, Vogue Magazine and Facebook.

Violet Duncan

Violet Duncan is Plains Cree and Taino from Kehewin Cree Nation. Touring nationally and internationally since 1991, she has performed for audiences across the United States, Canada and Europe through work as a Native American dancer, hoop dancer, choreographer, storyteller and author.

Violet is a former "Miss Indian World," representing all Indigenous people of North America. In 2019 Violet collaborated with the Mesa Arts Center on the Public Art installation: Water = Life. This project was created to discover, explore and celebrate the history and future of water in the Valley. Since 2014, Violet has worked as the Artistic Director for the children’s space at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Market.

After becoming a mother of four and seeing the need for Native representation in literature, she took it upon herself to author three award-winning children's books, "I am Native," "When We Dance" and "Lets Hoop Dance!" Her newest book "I am Native," released in 2020, shares a glimpse into the wonderful world of multigenerational Native family. This book showcases beautiful imagery of family members passing down traditions in both traditional and modern ways. She has recently joined the family of Random House with two new children’s books in 2022/23.

Violet is currently the Indigenous Cultural Advisor at the Tempe Center for the Arts, where she aims to create space for a permanent program of Indigenous performance and practice.

Mandi Harris

Mandi Harris (Cherokee Nation) is a children’s librarian with nearly a decade of experience working in youth services at public libraries. Mandi earned her Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Washington Information School, where she is currently a Ph.D. student and an American Library Association Spectrum Doctoral Fellow. Mandi uses Indigenous Systems of Knowledge to examine children’s literature, education, and the futures of libraries. Story time is her favorite place to be, and she loves seeing children and families learn and grow. She believes in the power of libraries to connect communities.

Cynthia Leitich Smith

Cynthia Leitich Smith is a NSK Neustadt Laureate and a New York Times bestselling author of books for young readers, including "Hearts Unbroken," which won the American Indian Library Association’s Youth Literature Award.

Her most recent releases are the middle-grade anthology "Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids," which received four-starred reviews and was named an ALA Notable Children’s Book, and the novel "Sisters of the Neversea," which received six-starred reviews. Both books were named to numerous “best of the year” lists. Her upcoming YA novel "Harvest House" will be released in spring 2023. She also looks forward to the spring 2023 release of "The Blue Stars: The Vice Principal Problem" (Book One in The Blue Stars Series), co-authored by Kekla Magoon and illustrated by Molly Murakami.

Cynthia is also the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books, and the Katherine Paterson Inaugural Endowed Chair on the faculty of the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cynthia is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and lives in Austin, Texas.

Cheryl Metoyer

Cheryl A. Metoyer is an associate professor emerita at the University of Washington Information School and adjunct associate professor emerita at the University of Washington American Indian Studies Department. From 2009-2015 she served as the associate dean for research in the Information School. Dr. Metoyer was the founder and director of the Native North American Indigenous Knowledge Initiative at the Information School, 2015-2021.  Over the years, she has served on several advisory boards including the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Dr. Metoyer assisted the Mashantucket Pequot, Cahuilla, San Manuel, Yakama, Navajo, Seneca, Mohawk and the Lakota nations in the planning and development of their research centers, libraries, archives and museums. Before joining the Information School faculty, Dr. Metoyer was the director of information resources and chief academic affairs officer for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. Her research record includes an award-winning monograph (Gatekeepers in Ethnolinguistic Communities) and publications in major research journals.

Nicole Neidhardt

Nicole Roessel Neidhardt is Diné (Navajo) of Kiiyaa'áanii clan on her mother’s side and a blend of European ancestry on her father’s side.  Her Diné family is from Round Rock, Arizona and she grew up in Santa Fe, NM on Tewa territory. She has her Master of Fine Arts from OCAD University in Toronto, ON and her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Business minor from the University of Victoria. Nicole’s Diné identity is the heart of her artistic practice which encompasses Indigenous Futurisms, Diné Storytelling, and children’s book illustration. She works in a variety of media and contexts such as: illustration, mylar stenciling, installation, mural painting and design, hand-poke tattooing, and facilitating community-engaged art. She was a co-founder of both the Innovative Young Indigenous Leaders Symposium, alongside Gina Mowatt, and of Groundswell Climate Collective.

Tasha Spillett

Dr. Tasha Spillett (she/her/hers) draws her strength from both her Inninewak (Cree) and Trinidadian bloodlines. She is a celebrated educator, poet, and emerging scholar. Tasha is most heart-tied to contributing to community-led work that centers on land and water defense and the protection of Indigenous women and girls. Tasha recently completed her Ph.D. in Education through the University of Saskatchewan, where she holds a Vanier Canada Award.

As a doctoral student, she wove in her cultural identity and commitment to community to produce a body of research that echoes Indigenous women’s demands for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People. Her work is a continuation of the resistance against the assault of colonialism that she has inherited. An active member of Manitoba’s Indigenous community, Tasha is a ceremony woman and a traditional singer.

In her work as an educator, Tasha makes every effort to infuse her cultural knowledge into her teaching philosophy and practice to support the positive cultural identities of Indigenous students and to strengthen relationships between all communities. Tasha acknowledges her unique opportunity and responsibility to create learning environments that are culturally responsive, and foster belonging for Indigenous students, students of color, and families.