Marcie R. Rendon
Author, Poet, Playwright, Consultant
NEW RELEASES!
Where They Last Saw Her
From the award-winning author of the Cash Blackbear series comes a compelling novel of a Native American woman who learns of the disappearance of one of her own and decides enough is enough.
All they heard was her scream.
Quill has lived on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota her whole life. She knows what happens to women who look like her. Just a girl when Jimmy Sky jumped off the railway bridge and she ran for help, Quill realizes now that she’s never stopped running. As she trains for the Boston Marathon early one morning out in the woods, she hears a scream. When she returns to search the area, all she finds are tire tracks and a single beaded earring.
Things are different now for Quill than when she was a lonely girl. Her friends Punk and Gaylyn are two women who don’t know what it means to quit; her loving husband, Crow, and their two beautiful children challenge her to be better every day. So when she hears a second woman has been stolen, she is determined to do something about it—starting with investigating the group of men working the pipeline construction just north of their homes.
As Quill closes in on the truth about the missing women, someone else disappears. In her quest to find justice for all of the women of the reservation, she is confronted with the hard truths of their home and the people who purport to serve them. When will she stop losing neighbors, friends, family? As Quill puts everything on the line to make a difference, the novel asks searing questions about bystander culture, the reverberations of even one act of crime, and the long-lasting trauma of being considered invisible.
Anishinaabe Songs for a New Millenium
Poetry Book, photos by Cheryl Welsh Belleville
Poem-songs summon the voices of Anishinaabe ancestors and sing to future generations
Marcie R. Rendon summons her ancestors’ songs, and her poem-songs evoke the world still unfolding around us, reflecting our place in time for future generations. Bringing memory to life, the senses to attention, she breaks the boundaries that time would impose, carrying the Anishinaabe way of life forward in the world. This collection undoubtedly sings through and for generations to come! These powerful poems ask us to trust the wind to catch and carry our songs and prayers. Through each page, Marcie R. Rendon guides us to radically dream a future of strength and reminds us that ‘Win or lose, there’s dancing to be done.’ — Tanaya Winder, Author of Words Like Love
Stitches of Tradition
Available October 22, 2024
“Traditions stitch together generations with love.”
★ Kirkus Reviews - Nookomis (Ojibwe for Grandmother) sews a ribbon skirt for her narrating granddaughter to wear to a new baby’s naming ceremony. Time passes, and Nookomis makes the child new skirts to mark other occasions—the Fall Ceremony, a beloved aunt becoming a district judge, and, at last, the protagonist’s coming-of-age ceremony. The book ends with the child—now a young woman—welcomed into a circle of loving female relatives.
Employing straightforward, matter-of-fact text that’s nevertheless steeped in meaning, Rendon (Ojibwe) beautifully pays tribute to the deep bond between elders and the next generation. She relies on a repetitive structure: Each time, Nookomis selects the right fabrics and colors and takes precise measurements before creating a new skirt. Poignant details, such as the child growing taller as Nookomis grows shorter, emphasize the passage of time. The repeated phrase “My granddaughter, live a good life” anchors the narrative as the years go by.
Pawis-Steckley’s (Ojibwe) thick-lined art depicts sturdy, stylized characters sporting brilliantly textured garments that pop with color; readers will feel welcomed into the community alongside Nookomis and her granddaughter.
Rendon expertly works information about Ojibwe culture into the narrative; her author’s note explains that ribbon skirts are a “sacred, spiritual, and political” symbol of Indigenous resilience, passed down by generations of women.
A radiant and joyful glimpse at an important Native tradition.
(Ojibwe glossary, note from Heartdrum founder Cynthia Leitich Smith) (Picture book. 4-8) Heartdrum is a Native-centered imprint of HarperKids Books & HarperStacks with We Need Diverse Books.