1. What draws you to write for young readers?
I want young people from birth to age eighteen to see Native Nations and their citizens in fiction and nonfiction works across a variety of formats. So along with many others, I’m working to help bring that visibility while centering our humanity, sovereignty, cultures, languages and histories.
2. Please tell us about your latest title, and any other books you'd like to highlight.
I’m delighted to have two books out in 2022 – a fiction picture book and a middle grade chapter book biography.
Powwow Day, illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight (Chickasaw Nation), tells the story of a young girl who is ill and unable to dance at her tribe’s powwow, but who finds that family, community and traditions help in the healing process.
Wilma Mankiller is part of the She Persisted chapter book series inspired by Chelsea Clinton’s picture book series with the same name. I’m excited to share the incredible life of the late Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, a role model for me since I was a teen. She endured so many challenges while making lasting contributions for people worldwide, not just those of us who are Cherokee.
3. What message(s) do you want to share through your work?
I don’t know that I have a message per se, but I do want to increase visibility while also entertaining and informing readers in my work.
4. What do picture books allow you to do as a storyteller?
They are incredible opportunities to share a wide range of stories because of the marriage of text and art. I can focus on crafting tight, lyrical text knowing the illustrations will share more than half of the story – going far beyond what my words say. Picture books can be pure magic because of that powerful combination.
5. What message would you share with young creators for Native/Indigenous and other marginalized communities?
I’d encourage them to share their stories through whatever medium they are drawn to because those stories have been missing for far too long. In the United States, those under age thirty and especially those eighteen and younger are majority non-white according to the most recent census. So trade publishing needs their stories because we’re not even close to half of all books for young people being about and crafted by BIPOC creatives. Just running the percentages based on the 2021 trade published books received by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin demonstrates that unfortunate reality. We need your voices!
Traci Sorell is a Cherokee Nation citizen and award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction for young people. Her first five books all received awards from the American Indian Library Association. Those titles are We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know; Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer;At the Mountain’s Base;Indian No More; and We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga. Her nonfiction titles have also received two Sibert Honors, two Orbis Pictus Honors, and aBoston Globe-Horn BookHonor. In 2022, Traci shares two new titles - the fiction picture bookPowwow Dayand Wilma Mankiller, her first chapter book biography, focused on the late Cherokee Nation Principal Chief. A former federal Indigenous law attorney, Traci lives with her family on her tribe’s reservation in northeastern Oklahoma. You can learn more about Traci and her work atwww.tracisorell.com.
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