Recent Updates:
Ancient Lightreceived the 2026 Science and Literature Award from the National Book Foundation. Their citation for the book:
“Ancient Light is a compelling collection of poems grounded in the present and moved by an Indigenously informed way of knowing. A sharp-eyed observer of the human and greater-than-human world, Kimberly Blaeser draws on her Anishinaabe ancestors’ research, knowledge gleaned from the patterns around them. Blaeser traces “the ancestors’ steps” to recognize medicine in plant relatives, kinship among animals, and find guidance in “Anishinaabeg stars stories.” Ancient Light takes a microscope’s lens to all lives lived on our biological and chemical planet.”—National Book Foundation, Science and Literature Award Citation
My short story “Waiting, A Quintet” received a 2026 O. Henry Prize and will be included in The Best Short Stories 2026: The O. Henry Prize Winners edited by Tommy Orange.