Claiming One’s Native Identity: Five Questions for Angeline Boulley, Author of Firekeeper’s Daughter

Firekeeper’s Daughter is an immersive and heart-stopping thriller told through the eyes of 18-year-old Daunis, a biracial, unenrolled member of the Ojibwe tribe — and it’s your debut! You have spoken about the We Need Diverse Books mentorship program and how that helped you get this book out there, but what brought you to finally write it?    
I’d had the idea for an Indigenous Nancy Drew story when I was 18 but didn’t begin writing until I was 44. I was well into my career by then, working as the Tribal Education Director for my tribe in Sault Ste. Marie. I knew so many teens who were dealing with identity microaggressions — the insensitive and ignorant things that people say to Native people. I realized that my mystery-thriller idea was really a coming-of-age story about claiming one’s Native identity. I began writing when my daughter was a preteen, thinking I could finish by the time she was in high school. It took much longer than I thought; my daughter is currently a college senior.
All the characters in Firekeeper’s Daughter — particularly the women — are all so wonderful and nuanced. They are strong and flawed and incredibly relatable. What was the influence for these characters? Who showed up first when you sat down to write this book?   
After Daunis, the first character who showed up was Aunt Teddie. Auntie is inspired by several incredible women I know from different Native communities. There were two sisters, one was my boss, and the other was a former coworker, who mentored me. I wanted to be like them — strong, confident, proud of being Ojibwe, full of cultural teachings, and connected to their tribal community. Had they always been this way? As my friendships with these sisters developed, I saw they were wonderfully nuanced, flawed, and relatable.
You have said you always wanted to write, but you didn’t necessarily set out to write a YA novel. Now that your book is finally out there in the world, what do you hope readers (of any age) take away from this story?   
Ten years of writing and revising means trying different versions of the story — both in age category and genre. I’m happy with the genre-defying, YA / Adult crossover end result. I hope readers gain awareness that we (Native people) are still here and have so many stories to tell.
We must ask about the Obamas and your book becoming a TV show. Tell us everything you can! Who called you? Have you talked to them? Will you be involved in the scriptwriting?   
I haven’t yet met the Obamas, but it is thrilling that their company is producing the project for Netflix. Right after the book auction, I spoke with production companies about screen adaptations. The team from Higher Ground Productions had an incredible vision for a streaming series. They felt as strongly as I did about Native representation both in front of and behind the camera and in the writers’ room. I will be an Executive Producer on the Netflix series. I’m not a screenwriter and will continue focusing on writing gritty thrillers about unforgettable Ojibwe characters.
We love to ask: What are you reading and recommending right now?   
I’m listening to President Obama’s latest book, A Promised Land. So engaging! I recently finished — and was blown away by — The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe. I was able to read an early copy of Hunting by Stars, which is Cherie Dimaline’s sequel to one of my absolute favorite books, The Marrow Thieves. It took a few days afterward to put my emotions into words because it’s everything.