(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone.

Steve Adubato in Atlantic City at the New Jersey Education Association Convention.

- So many interesting people here.

They're not all traditional educators, but one educator who is educating through her writing is Vanessa Lillie, who is the author of "Blood Sisters."

It's a mystery novel, and the Washington Post said that this is the 2023 best mystery book of all the other mystery books around.

Good to have you with us.

- Thank you.

- Set this up for us, "Blood Sisters."

- Absolutely.

So "Blood Sisters"'s a story of a woman named Syd Walker.

- She's an arche- - Archeologist.

Yes, exactly.

And her sister goes missing, and she's been away from Oklahoma for a while, so she returns to where she's from in Oklahoma to make sure her sister isn't another missing and murdered indigenous women statistic.

So the book deals with that crisis, but also takes me back to where I'm from in northeastern Oklahoma and sharing my community.

I'm Cherokee.

And so it's an opportunity to talk about the history of the place within the pages of a thriller.

- And actually the front cover of the book is a New York Times bestselling author, C.J.

Box.

Lemme just read what C.J.

Box said, "This book sets its hooks on page one and then pulls relentlessly and colorfully through buried secrets and rediscovered Native heritage."

That's powerful stuff.

- That's such a...

He's incredible.

I mean, he's a number one bestselling author, and so that meant a lot that it engaged him.

I think as a thriller author, we have a real obligation to readers to make sure you keep those pages turning.

And so for me as a writer, it's a fun challenge to think what history means a lot to me, what do I wanna share with people?

And then, how do I make it a page turner?

So that's what's really fun in the genre.

- But you are not just simply entertaining people with the book.

It also talks about deep, complex, multifaceted issues, environmental preservation.

We'll go through a couple.

What does that have to do with this book?

- Absolutely, so Northeastern Oklahoma, where I'm from is what was called the most toxic town in America.

Most of the bullets from World Wars I and II were pulled out of the ground in northeastern Oklahoma.

And when that industry went bust, the whole community was left with giant caverns and it became toxic to the town that lived there.

So the real community has had the aftermath.

And so I set my story there, not only because I'm from there, but because I wanted to elevate those environmental justice issues that are happening ongoing within this community.

- You also talk about in the book postpartum depression.

- Mm.

So that's an issue for me, especially in my... Actually in my debut novel, especially, I was a new mother struggling.

And so for me to write about the complexity of motherhood, to really put an issue out there that sometimes is hard to discuss is a big part of why I'm a writer, is tackling the darker side of things and just putting it out there for people to hopefully feel a connection.

That's why we tell stories, I think, is to connect with people.

So postpartum was a big part of that.

- Vanessa, let me ask you this.

Why do you think so many Americans seem to be, quote unquote, not that interested in the culture you're talking about by saying, "Well, that was then, that's not my family, that's not my heritage."

But it's incredibly, incredibly important, especially if you wanna understand our country.

- Well, indigenous history is American history.

We were here thousands of years before anyone sailed over on any boat.

And so if you care about the place in which you live, if you care about the traditions that came before you, and you must understand indigenous history and understand how it's happening now, it's not just history, it's present day there.

- What do you mean now?

- Well, right now there and there are hundreds and even thousands of indigenous communities all over the country.

I mean, for viewers within their own backyard, there is an indigenous community.

There are people who are on that land before they were there.

And likely they have events, they have ceremonies.

I now live in Rhode Island, the tribe there, the Narragansett Tribe has an annual powwow every year.

They have community outreach program, so anyone can go and connect to their indigenous community.

And I actually think that reconnection is one of the most important parts of being an American, because it helps us understand where we came from.

And I think can even heal some of the fractured nature that many of us feel right now, because you're connecting to the authenticity of the land and the people itself.

- Along those lines, being fractured, being separated, bifurcated, however want wants to describe it, is often based on misconceptions of a people, of a group of people.

The most common misconceptions about the indigenous community or indigenous communities across this country?

- There's so many stereotypes, but I think, you know, media has done that for a long time.

But what's exciting is that within publishing, within TV and film, if there are anybody who's watched maybe "Killers of the Flower Moon" or "Reservation Dogs," there's the actual voices of indigenous people are being represented authentically through them.

It's not white people telling an indigenous story.

It's indigenous people getting a chance at the microphone.

- Why is it so important?

As to, who tells a story?

In this case, you're telling the story.

- That's right.

Who tells a story is incredibly important because you don't fall into stereotypes and assumptions.

You're actually telling your own truth and story.

And I think as viewers, readers, you can feel that in a story when something is authentic.

We're smart enough with social media and everything, we know instantly if it's a perspective that comes from real lived experience or just stereotype and assumption.

- Okay, so in many ways you're working to uncover stories in this mystery, the mystery Blood Sisters, the author is Vanessa Lillie.

It's a novel mystery.

But then I go, wait a minute.

There's a piece of this that has to do with LGBTQ+ themes.

- Absolutely.

Yeah.

So two-spirit is a term used in indigenous communities- - Say it again.

- Two-spirit.

- Two-spirit.

- So I'm two-spirit.

Two-spirit could be associated with the term queer, lesbian, but the point is not necessarily about what most people would think of identity in that way, because that's a colonial idea.

This idea of a binary, it's men, it's women, right?

That came in on the boats with the churches with their religious view.

Before that ever step foot in America, there was a view within indigenous communities, a view still held that a person isn't necessarily just a man or a woman.

It's a spectrum, and not only was that an accepted view, it was a respected view.

It wasn't until colonialism, the boats came over, the church came over that people started to disparage, isolate and other people who you might think of as queer or LGBTQ+.

And so it's powerful to me as a two-spirit person to write about that, so people understand there is another way of looking at this, and it's a way that is kind and understanding and accepting of a view that way predates any of the colonists coming over.

- Well, Vanessa, as we do this program a few days after a historic and significant presidential election, new Congress as well, there are many political analysts who have argued that some of that result is pushback on the exact diversity and the exact ideas that you just described.

- What I believe in- - [Steve] What do you say to those folks?

- I believe in my heart that this country does need some kind of a healing.

And I do think the fact that we are founded by people who suppressed and oppressed, who enslaved, that does create a sickness in people.

And I think to heal our hearts and our spirits and our souls, part of that healing is understanding our indigenous history and supporting the original people who are here to make sure they can thrive successfully in communities, in ways in which they have never been allowed to thrive in this country, because suppression and oppression was the means for taking away land and resources, as any colonial state does.

So I actually do think that this election to me just says that we do need to reconnect to the things that make us great.

And part of that is the diversity of this country and actually understanding where we came from and how we can support the original people who were here.

I think that'll be a healing for us.

- Vanessa Lillie, who is the author of "Blood Sisters," powerful, compelling, important stuff, check out this book.

And we are at the NJEA Convention here in Atlantic City.

Vanessa, thank you so much for joining.

- It's been an honor to be here.

Thank you.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by NJM Insurance Group.

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