Elissa Washuta books

Elissa Washuta is a Cowlitz Indian author of creative non-fiction and memoir, known for White Magic and her exploration of Native identity, pop culture, and personal history.
Author · Non-Fiction · Memoir · Creative Non-Fiction

Non-Fiction

Title Published Buy on Amazon
My Body Is a Book of Rules 2014 Buy
Starvation Mode 2015 Buy
White Magic 2021 Buy

Elissa Washuta is a member of the Cowlitz Indian Nation and an author of creative non-fiction that braids personal memoir with cultural criticism and Native history. Her three books — My Body Is a Book of Rules (2014), Starvation Mode (2015), and White Magic (2021) — each use a different formal approach to explore questions of identity, belonging, and the relationship between indigenous and settler cultures.

White Magic, her most acclaimed work, uses the framework of magic — tarot, astrology, crystals, manifestation — to examine how Native spiritual practices were displaced by appropriated versions of mysticism. The book is structurally inventive and emotionally direct, and it established Washuta as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Native American non-fiction.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has Elissa Washuta written?

Elissa Washuta has written three books in one series.

What was Elissa Washuta's first book?

Elissa Washuta’s first book is My Body Is a Book of Rules, published in 2014.

What are the recurring themes in Washuta's work?

Washuta writes about Native identity in contemporary America, the collision between indigenous tradition and mainstream pop culture, and the ways personal trauma intersects with cultural history. White Magic uses the structure of tarot, astrology, and other divination systems to explore her own life and the displacement of Native knowledge. Her earlier memoirs, My Body Is a Book of Rules and Starvation Mode, are more directly personal, dealing with mental health, relationships, and the experience of being a Native woman in institutions not built for her.

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