Angeline
Bestselling Young Adult Novelist
Printz Medal & Morris Award Winner
Travels from: Chicago, IL

“From the moment she arrived, Angeline Boulley brought her bright star magic to the theater and event!” — Sturges-Young Center for the Arts

Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island. Angeline was born into story-telling people, and was was first introduced to the art through generational oral tradition. Yet during her childhood, Angeline struggled with her biracial indigenous identity. In searching for representation through the stories in books she was reading, she realized that the examples she found lacked depth and true experience. It wasn’t until her mid-forties that she realized she could write her own experience into existence.

Firekeeper’s Daughter is her debut novel, and was an instant #1 NYT Bestseller. The book has been named the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature, the Printz Award, the William C. Morris award for YA debut literature, and was an American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor Book. Called an “indiginous Nancy Drew” the central character is Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community after witnessing a shocking murder.

Her second novel, Warrior Girl Unearthed, was published in 2023 and was an instant New York Times and Indies Bestseller. This novel takes us back to Sugar Island, and is a high stakes thriller about the power of discovering your stolen history.

Angeline's Featured Titles

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Being the Hero of our Own Stories

An interactive session for students in grades 6-12 including an overview and comparative analysis of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth in popular literature and film. Angeline introduces an Indigenous framework for the Hero’s Journey through Medicine Wheel teachings from her Ojibwe community. Students are encouraged to explore storytelling from their own family traditions and cultural backgrounds.

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The Art, Craft, and Business of Storytelling

Angeline facilitates an interactive workshop for aspiring writers. The Art segment introduces the power of storytelling to impact our lives and explores the concept of “Voice” in writing. The Craft segment focuses on storytelling arcs, character goals, point of view, and conflict. The Business segment covers literary agent representations, book deals, the use of social media, and the writer-entrepreneur.

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Stories are Good Medicine

In Anishinaabek (Indigenous) communities, traditional firekeepers not only strike and tend fires at ceremonies and other events, but they also provide cultural teachings through stories shared around the fire. Storytelling is how we share what it means to be human. Representation in literature provides opportunities to see Indigenous children and teens as complex and nuanced individuals living dynamic lives. Author Angeline Boulley will share her 38-year-long path to publication, along with examples of other Young Adult novels featuring Indigenous protagonists, to demonstrate the importance of Indigenous storytelling.

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FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER by Angeline Boulley | Book Trailer

Interview with Angeline Boulley

Netflix series in works for Michigan author’s debut novel ‘Firekeeper’s Daughter’

Fierce Reads Shelfside Chats

Read an Excertp of Firekeeper’s Daughter

Order a Signed Copy of Firekeeper’s Daughter

Honors, Awards & Recognition

A PRINTZ MEDAL WINNER
A MORRIS AWARD WINNER
AN AMERICAN INDIAN YOUTH LITERATURE AWARD YA HONOR BOOK!
A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB YA PICK
An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller

 

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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