Author Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) champions Native Voices

Art Works Podcast

Today, we are celebrating Indigenous Peoples Month with an interview with author Cynthia Leitich Smith. A member of the Muscogee (Creek) nation, Smith is a bestselling, award-winning children’s-YA writer and the author-curator of the Native-centered Heartdrum imprint at HarperCollins Children’s Books. She also is the 2024 Southern Mississippi Medallion Winner and the 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate and is widely recognized for her fiction for young readers that centers on contemporary Native American characters. In this podcast, we discuss her recent YA novel [Harvest House](https://www.candlewick.com/cat.asp?browse=subject&mode=book&isbn=1536227285&bkview=p&pix=n%20() an "indigenous ghost mystery" that grapples with serious themes of missing Native women and girls while emphasizing the empowerment of young Native voices. She also discusses the importance of including themes such as first love, strong family bonds, and vibrant community ties in her writing to underscore the joy that can be found in the daily lives of Indigenous kids. The conversation takes us through the interconnectedness of characters in Cynthia's Native-centered stories, returning to the beloved Wolf family, first introduced in her 2000 picture book Jingle Dancer. Cynthia reflects upon the inspiration behind her award-winning book Hearts Unbroken, exploring the tensions between artists and their art, speech in its many forms, and the importance of navigating apologies and amends. We discuss her sense of responsibility as a writer for young readers, aiming to provide stories that do no harm and offer empowerment, while still tackling difficult issues. Cynthia shares her journey through the publishing industry's challenges, her strategic pivot to fantasy and gothic genres, and eventual return to contemporary Native American stories. She discusses her role as curator of Heartdrum, a Native imprint at HarperCollins, its goals and continued growth, and finally her vision for the expansion of Native literature across genres and representations.