My Ancestors Are Reindeer Herders and I Am Melting In Extinction: Saami-American Non-Fiction, Fiction, and Poetry

by Ron Riekki

In My Ancestors are Reindeer Herders and I am Melting in Extinction , Ron Riekki presents a collection of non-fiction, short stories, and poetry about the Karelian- and Saami-American experience. In true nomadic fashion, his writing takes the reader to Kuusamo, Utah, Berkeley, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Lake Mohave, Yosemite, Karelia, and a hazmat facility where all the animals on site have been forgotten. A mix of Anselm Hollo, Gregory Orr, Eric Torgersen, and Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, Riekki's writing forces the Saami-American voice to be heard, a voice that some might not even realize exists. It does. Furiously.

Genres: Poetry

132 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2019

About the author

Ron Riekki’s books include U.P.: a novel (Ghost Road Press) and Posttraumatic: A Memoir (Hoot ‘n’ Waddle/Four Chambers Press), as well as the upcoming hybrid collection My Ancestors are Reindeer Herders and I Am Melting in Extinction (Loyola University Maryland’s Apprentice House Press, 2019) and the poetry book i have been warned not to write about this (Main Street Rag, 2020). Riekki co-edited Undocumented: Great Lakes Poets Laureate on Social Justice (Michigan State University Press) and The Many Lives of The Evil Dead: Essays on the Cult Film Franchise (McFarland), and edited And Here: 100 Years of Upper Peninsula Writing, 1917-2017 (MSU Press), Here: Women Writing on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (MSU Press, Independent Publisher Book Award), The Way North: Collected Upper Peninsula New Works (Wayne State University Press, Michigan Notable Book). He has anthologies upcoming with McFarland and WSU Press. His fiction has been published in The Threepenny Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Wigleaf, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, Akashic Books, Juked, New Ohio Review, Cleaver, Puerto del Sol, and many other literary journals. Riekki’s story “Accidents” received the 2016 Shenandoah Fiction Prize and “The Family Jewel” was selected for The Best Small Fictions 2015.

Reviews

[Suzanne Rancourt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I have bear ritual in my veins, in the rowboats of my head" To reconcile all our Ancestors, we must first go Home to our deepest Soul place. Ron Riekki courageously sleds across the tundra of the stereotypical, then, dives deep below the ice shelves to emerge bursting among stars.

[Francisco GS · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed look into the author's struggle with his own sanity, uncovering his own heritage and the existential dread of its potential extinction. Definite reccomend for anyone interested in learning about Native European & Native American culture or stories told from that lens

[Lenore Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried every page of this book. Sometimes sobbing.

[Gianna W · Rating 5 out of 5]

edited & designed by me :)

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was displayed in our library. Otherwise I might never have known about it. It's a wonderful important work and I hope to find more by Riekki.