“Even though that was actually quite scary, it was also thrilling, because I realized I had no idea what was under my feet-and I really wanted to understand more.” She went on to earn a Ph.D. “It was dark underneath my feet, and I felt myself being pulled in,” she says, bright-eyed as she remembers how it felt. She hopped in the water and swam, floating hundreds of meters above the ocean floor. On a research trip to Bermuda, Little Badger traveled on a small vessel to the deep ocean. After trying two years in a row to be accepted into the school’s creative-writing program, and being turned down both times, Little Badger pivoted to another subject that had piqued her interest: earth science.Īn introduction to oceanography course left her wondering about all the parts of the world she never knew existed. She carried that lesson with her to college at Princeton. “He wanted me to see how far I would go someday,” she says, adding, “It’s good to learn as a writer you’re going to deal with rejections.” They responded with a kindly rejection letter. in English at the time, helped her send the manuscript to a publisher. When she was in the first grade, she wrote her first book, a 40-page mystery involving a murdered garden and opals in an attic. Growing up, she worked her way through the fantasy sections of each local library. Although Little Badger was raised in several places around the world, moving because of her father’s job, she considers Texas to be home. The Lipan Apache have long lived on the land that is now Texas. “And for non-Native readers, I hope that they’re able to connect to this character and learn a little bit.” “For Native readers, especially Lipan Apache readers, I do hope that they are able to see more of their culture than they have in the past,” says the 34-year-old author. Read More: The 100 Best YA Books of All Time And like her debut, Elatsoe, which was published to fanfare in 2020, Little Badger’s new genre-bending narrative draws on her heritage and the tradition of story-telling that has informed her worldview. The book, to be published Nov. 23, was long-listed for this year’s National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Her second young-adult novel, A Snake Falls to Earth, is a coming-of-age fantasy-thriller that flips between the perspective of an asexual teenage Lipan Apache girl and a cottonmouth snake.
Her books sink into the depths of humanity’s darkest realities-gun violence, grief, our destruction of the planet-but also imagine the spirits, ghosts and animals that could exist alongside us. Exploring the mysteries of the planet-and the beings that may exist beyond our comprehension-is what anchors Little Badger’s acclaimed young-adult fiction.
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