The road to Sandy June's Legendary Frybread Drive-In slips through every rez and alongside every urban Native hangout. The menu offers a rotating feast, including traditional eats and tasty snacks. But Sandy June's serves up more than food: it hosts live music, movie nights, unexpected family reunions, love long lost, and love found again.
That big green-and-gold neon sign beckons to teens of every tribal Nation, often when they need it most.
Featuring stories and poems by: Kaua Mahoe Adams, Marcella Bell, Angeline Boulley, K. A. Cobell, A. J. Eversole, Jen Ferguson, Eric Gansworth, Byron Graves, Kate Hart, Christine Hartman Derr, Karina Iceberg, Cheryl Isaacs, Darcie Little Badger, David A. Robertson, Andrea L. Rogers, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Brian Young.
In partnership with We Need Diverse Books.
Cynthia Leitich Smith is the bestselling, acclaimed author of books for all ages, including Rain Is Not My Indian Name, Indian Shoes, Jingle Dancer, On a Wing and a Tear, Sisters of the Neversea, the Blue Stars series, Harvest House, and Hearts Unbroken, which won the American Indian Youth Literature Award. Cynthia is also the anthologist of Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids and was named the NSK Neustadt Laureate. She is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint at HarperCollins Children's Books, and served as the Katherine Paterson 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 Denton and Austin, Texas.
Andrea L. Rogers is from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts with an MFA in creative writing. Andrea lives and writes in the Boston Mountains in Arkansas.
Cheryl Isaacs can often be found running through the Carolinian forests of Southwestern Ontario, where she has fearlessly enjoyed the trails for years. Her Kanien’kéha culture often appears in her writing. The Unfinished is her debut novel, though her work has appeared in numerous Indigenous publications.
Author and filmmaker Brian Young is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. He grew up on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Brian earned his BA in film studies at Yale University and his MFA in creative writing at Columbia University. Brian currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
K. A. Cobell, Staa’tssipisstaakii, is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation. She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she spends her time writing books, chasing her kids through the never-ending rain, and scouring the inlet beaches for sand dollars and hermit crabs. Looking for Smoke is her debut novel.
Jen Ferguson is Michif/Métis and white, an activist, an intersectional feminist, an auntie, and an accomplice armed with a PhD in English and creative writing. Visit her online at jenfergusonwrites.com.
Byron Graves is Ojibwe and was born and raised on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota, where they played high school basketball. When they aren't writing, they can be found playing retro video games, spending time with their family, or cheering on their beloved Minnesota Timberwolves. Rez Ball is their debut novel.
DAVID A. ROBERTSON is an author, editor, and speaker on Indigenous issues, mental health and freedom of expression. His books include the novel The Theory of Crows, the memoir Black Water, the picture books When We Were Alone and On the Trapline, and the middle-grade series the Misewa Saga. He has won awards such as the TD Canadian Children’s Literary Award, the Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-Fiction, the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award and has been shortlisted for many others. He was the writer and host of the podcast Kiwew, which won the 2021 RTDNA Prairie Region Award for Best Podcast. In 2023, the University of Manitoba honoured him with a doctor of letters for his contributions to the arts. David A. Robertson is a member of Norway House Cree Nation. He lives in Winnipeg.