Settle in for a lively conversation about indigenous books and authors.
Vanessa Lillie is the USA Today bestselling author of Blood Sisters, a new series centered on the stories of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which was a Target Book Club pick and GMA Book Club Buzz Pick, as well as a best mystery of the year from the Washington Post, Amazon Editor’s and Reader’s Digest. The sequel, The Bone Thief, will be released October 28th. Her other bestselling thrillers are Little Voices, For the Best and she’s the creator and coauthor of the # 1 Audible Charts bestseller and International Thriller Writers award nominated, Young Rich Widows series, set in Providence, RI where she lives. Originally from Miami, Oklahoma, she is a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Hillary Smith is the owner of Black Walnut Books, a queer and Native owned bookstore that focuses on Indigenous, BIPOC and queer authors in Glens Falls, New York. She is Southern Pomo and Coastal Miwok and a member of the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians. She has worked in bookstores since 2009 and loves how books forge connections. She managed the Calistoga Copperfield’s Books from 2014-2021 and was the co-president of the Fiction Committee for the Golden Poppy Awards. She started Black Walnut Books as a pop-up and online bookstore, and opened as a brick and mortar store in March of 2023. In March of 2024 she opened a children’s bookstore, Little Black Walnut Books.