Our second book for Alaska Native Heritage Month is “Blonde Indian” by Tlingit writer Ernestine Hayes. It’s a celebrated memoir about Ernestine, who was also Alaska State Writer Laureate from 2016-2018. The work won an American Book Award and was published in 2006.
“Told in eloquent layers that blend Native stories and metaphor with social and spiritual journeys, this enchanting memoir traces the author’s life from her difficult childhood growing up in the Tlingit community, through her adulthood, during which she lived for some time in Seattle and San Francisco, and eventually to her return home.”
