AWP Virtual Book Club is reading Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden for the month of November. Carol Memmott of The Washington Post  had this to say about Winter Counts: “History, betrayal and heartbreak are out front in this novel, but it’s also an action-packed tale bursting with criminals, pursuits, fights and standoffs. It’s sure to please the most seasoned thriller fans.”

Weiden is an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota nation, holds an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts, and is a professor of Native American studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Winter Counts has received rave reviews from the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Washington Post, Shelf Awareness, Booklist, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and many more, which can be viewed on Weiden’s website.

Colleen Cable, director of conferences for AWP, will interview David Heska Wanbli Weiden. Their discussion on Winter Counts will premiere on YouTube Friday, November 20, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. ET. Register for this event to receive a reminder and a direct link to the video on the day of the premiere. The premiere will also include a live Q&A chat.

*Registering is free, and you do not have to be a member of AWP to do so. However, to participate in the live Q&A, you must be signed into YouTube.

Join the Discussion

This month, due to the upcoming holiday, we will not have any discussions within the AWP Community of Writers Facebook group, but instead look forward to the live Q&A during the watch party premiere on YouTube!

Purchase the Book

Winter Counts can be purchased on the AWP and Bookshop.org affiliate page.

About Winter Counts

Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is denied by the American legal system or the tribal council, Virgil is hired to deliver his own punishment, the kind that’s hard to forget. But when heroin makes its way into the reservation and finds Virgil’s own nephew, his vigilantism suddenly becomes personal. He enlists the help of his ex-girlfriend and sets out to learn where the drugs are coming from and make them stop.

They follow a lead to Denver and find that drug cartels are rapidly expanding and forming new and terrifying alliances.  And back on the reservation, a new tribal council initiative raises uncomfortable questions about money and power. As Virgil starts to link the pieces together, he must face his own demons and reclaim his Native identity. He realizes that being a Native American in the 21st century comes at an incredible cost.

Winter Counts is a tour-de-force of crime fiction, a bracingly honest look at a long-ignored part of American life, and a twisting, turning story that’s as deeply rendered as it is thrilling.

About the Author

David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota nation, is the author of the novel Winter Counts (Ecco, 2020), a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2020, Amazon Best Book, Best of the Month by Apple Books, Indie Next Great Reads pick, and main selection of the Book of the Month Club.  He received his MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts and is a professor of Native American studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver.