A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

A Mind Spread Out on the GroundA bold and profound meditation on trauma, legacy, oppression and racism in North America from an award winning Haudenosaunee writer. The Mohawk phrase for depression can be roughly translated to "a mind spread out on the ground." In this urgent and visceral work, Alicia Elliott explores how apt a description that is for the ongoing effects of personal, intergenerational, and colonial traumas she and so many Native people have experienced. Elliott's

heartwarming love letter to her family and friends on the Turtle Mountain Ojibwe reservation

And as Dunbar-Ortiz reveals

"to write"—have influenced her

Crafted with unforgettable characters

Elliott's deeply personal writing details a life spent between Indigenous and white communities

“Erdrich continues her excellent storytelling

and sovereignty issues

and a tweeting president

Little Big Bully cycl[es] into private moments

Windy falls asleep under the stars

and sensuous fable inspired by the traditional Canadian Métis legend of the Rogarou—a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of native people's communities

her spirit name