Writer Spotlight: Angeline Boulley

 Paris, meth labs, flashlight batteries, pen, paper and a chardonnay: Indigenous author Angeline Boulley finds overnight success 36 years in the making

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet "overnight success" Anishinaabe YA writer Angeline Boulley. 

Helpful pronunciation tips from her website: Angeline rhymes with ‘wine,’ and Boulley sounds like ‘bully.’

First, I have to ask, how did you enjoy your September trip to Europe? Was it all book tour, or were you able to stop and smell the Roman roses?

Angeline in Paris

For it being my first trip to Europe, I made it an adventure. I visited four cities in Germany over a two-week period and before spending two weeks in Paris. It was evenly divided between book events and free time. And, yes, I smelled the Parisian red geraniums!

You were working in Mt. Pleasant when you met two co-workers, strong Anishinaabe Kwewag, who served as inspiration for Aunt Teddy. Who were they, and how did they reflect the uniquely individual, no-nonsense yet compassionate character?

They are two sisters – Audrey and Bonnie. Both were leaders who advocated not just for their own department or family, but for the community as a whole and those who were the most vulnerable.

To someone looking on from afar, your debut novel’s progress might seem like an overnight success. 60 agents “liked” your pitch. The manuscript went out on submission Thursday, and you had your first offer by Sunday. There were a dozen bidders for the book at auction, and two weeks later, another spirited auction for the film rights (won by the Obama Netflix company!)

But it wasn’t “overnight” at all, was it?

It was an overnight success 36 years in the making! I first had the idea when I was a senior in high school, but I didn’t start writing my first draft until I was 44. It took another ten years to finish a draft that I felt was good enough to get agent representation.

While writing Firekeeper’s Daughter, you first awoke an hour before your school-aged kids to get some writing in. Then, 90 minutes before their alarm, and finally, you’d rise at 4:30 am to get three solid hours in before school and work. What was the draw of the early morning?

I was not a morning person, so it was a surprise to discover how enjoyable the early  morning could be. The house is quiet, my mind is calm, and the characters speak with clarity.

You described an episode, while waiting for your son’s hockey practice to end, where you climbed into the trunk of your car to make sure a person could fit in the trunk. When the tribal police came to ask if you were OK, you said, “I’m a writer. This is research.” What other “research” have you done for your books?

I attended a training at the Michigan State Police academy on different methods of meth production and how to identify clandestine meth labs. I interviewed FBI agents, IRS agents, Tribal law enforcement officers, and a former Assistant US Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.

You are actually a Firekeeper’s Daughter. Your father, a truck driver in the mundane real world, held the firekeeper role, and you claimed him to be “one of my greatest teachers.” What did you learn from him?

Firekeeper and daughter

He’s the first person I go to with questions about Ojibwe culture. Whenever I call to ask how to say something in Anishinaabemowin, he has to sleep on it. Although it was his first language growing up, he’s out of practice speaking Ojibwe nowadays. But he dreams in the language sometimes.

Firekeeper’s Daughter, which you pitched as Indigenous Nancy Drew meets 21 Jump Street, won a slew of awards: the Printz, the Morris, the American Indian Youth Literature Award, and was listed as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Young Adult Books “of all time.” You were surprised at the honors, and said, “For a Native author to win, I knew it was larger than myself.” What did you mean by that?

Each year since 2002, about 1% of all the books published for children and teens will feature a Native main character. It translates to around 60-75 books per year out of 3000 to 4000. Twenty years ago, it was 9X more likely that a story about Native Americans was authored by someone who was not Native themselves. We’ve always had great storytellers, but Native writers were not getting the book deals. The most infuriating aspect was seeing non-Native authors peddle “trauma / poverty porn” without regard for the actual Native people whose cultural knowledge and spiritual practices were being mined for the stories.

To use a baseball analogy, I felt that being a debut author was like getting one turn at bat in the major leagues. I worried that if I didn’t get on base, then it might harm other emerging Native writers from getting signed to the big leagues, i.e., traditional publishing. Other authors might get multiple times at bat, but for someone from an underrepresented community, it seems like you only get one shot. All this to say that winning an award and hitting the New York Times bestseller list feels like a home run. 

Kindergarten Angeline

You shared audio books with your father, and you, your mom and your siblings, would walk a mile to the library every Saturday. You would save your money to buy batteries for your flashlight so that you could stay up late reading when the rest of the family slept. Obviously, the love of reading ruled your young soul. What were some of your favorite books growing up, and what are some of your TBR pile now?

My childhood favorites include: I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier, Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan, and everything written by Judy Blume. My all-time favorites: The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline, The Round House by Louise Erdrich, The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, Heart Berries by Terese Mailhot, and Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork. I also must shoutout my favorite audiobooks: The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe, Sadie by Courtney Summers, and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. 

Senior year Angeline

It wasn’t until high school that you found a book featuring a Native American protagonist, but when you finished, you were “less than satisfied.” What does it mean to you to be writing the truth of your Ojibway experience?

Since my book debuted during the pandemic, most of my events for the first six months were virtual. During the rare, in-person, socially-distanced events, both I and the readers were masked, so all you could see were each other’s eyes. But it happened more than once that an Indigenous woman would approach me and I asked her if I got it right (our experience as Anishinaabe kwewag) and she let me know that she felt seen. 

Author Debbie Reese believes “curtains” should be added to the windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors of cultural literature. You said, “I write to preserve my culture and edit to protect it.” Can you explain?

Indigenous knowledge is a precious resource. Being an Indigenous author comes with a responsibility to your community. Each author must decide when to pull the curtain across the window in order to protect that knowledge. For example, I decided not to include any actual ceremonies – such as what happens in the sweat lodge. But I did hear from an Indigenous reader from the southwest who felt that what I did share was beyond what would be appropriate in her community. She basically said, “Man, you northern Natives give it all away.” 

You described in a presentation how you were uncertain whether you could fulfill the two-book deal you’d signed, consoling yourself that if all you achieved was the one story, at least “I made it epic.”

But, while walking one day, a voice in your head said, “I stole everything they think I did, and stuff they don’t even know about.” You rushed to a nearby café and asked for pen, paper and a chardonnay. And thus was born Warrior Girl Unearthed. That’s the author’s dream, to have a character speak through them.

Can you tell us about the new novel, due out May of 2023?

It’s Indigenous Lara Croft, except she’s a 16-year-old who is raiding museums and private collections to bring our ancestors and their sacred items back home to Sugar Island.

FYI: -- There are 108,328 ancestors still held by museums required to comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which was signed into law 32 years ago!

You were fortunate to land the talent of Indigenous artists for your two book covers. Can you tell us a little about the two cover illustrators?

Moses Lunham was the cover artist for FKD, which is the most stunningly beautiful book cover I have ever seen. He is Ojibwe from Kettle and Stony Point First Nation in Ontario.

Michaela Goade is the cover artist for WGU. She is Tlinget from Juneau, Alaska, and was the first Indigenous artist to win the Caldecott Medal, awarded for distinguished children’s book illustration, for We Are Water Protectors, which was written by Carole Lindstrom.

The numbers tell a horrifying story of the danger Indigenous girls and women face with the likelihood of assault and violence, and the unlikely prospects for prosecution and justice for the crimes they suffer. What can be done to alleviate this injustice?

This is such an overwhelming question. It deserves a dissertation, but instead, all I can give is a bullet point:

●     Resources for tribes to implement the Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction provisions in the 2022 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), 25 USC 1304. This amendment to the Indian Civil Rights Act recognizes tribes’ inherent right to exercise criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit violent crimes against Native Americans on tribal lands.

Finally, as a freshman at CMU, you recalled a euchre marathon that lasted all week. Maybe not something to brag about back home, but I suspect it was a mythic quest at the time. Are you still a pretty savvy euchre player?

Yes. I bank all of my pesky irritations, simmering petty grudges, and honey-dipped rage so as to unleash it on the euchre card table. Play at your own risk. 

Are there any questions you wished I had asked?

Who is your hero? Moira Rose.

What superpower do you wish you had? I wish I was an omniglot.

Unpopular take? Everyone hates the way Alex Karev was written off Grey’s Anatomy but no one has an alternative that I’d buy into.

Please share any social media links:

Twitter: @ fineangeline

Instagram / Pinterest / TikTok / Linkedin: @ angelineboulley

Facebook: @ angelineboulley/author