Novelist Erika T. Wurth joins hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to talk about the thousands of Indigenous women who go missing or are murdered in the U.S. every year. Wurth’s new literary-horror novel White Horse begins with the protagonist, a 35-year-old urban Native named Kari, receiving a bracelet that once belonged to her mother, who disappeared years ago. Wurth discusses what gets in the way of tracking the missing; how people talk about violence against Native women; intergenerational trauma; the real-life bracelet that led to the one in the book; why Kari loves Megadeth and Stephen King; and writing towards catharsis. She also reads from the opening of White Horse.

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This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Erika T. Wurth

Others:

“Dave Mustaine lesson: Learn about exotic voicings, major and minor diads and ‘upside down’ chords” by Dave Mustaine
Native Hope
Department of Justice - Missing or Murdered Indigenous People
Russell Means
Ward Churchill
Stephen Graham Jones
Rebecca Roanhorse
Brandon Hobson
Kelli Jo Ford
V. Castro
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 10: “Indigenous Imaginations: Native American Writers on Their Communities”
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 9: “With the Ancestors: Buki Papillon on African Folklore and Wakanda Forever”
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 6 Episode 8: “Live from Writers for Readers in Kansas City: Alexander Chee on Editing Best American Essays 2022”
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 5 Episode 8: “Paul Lisicky and Terese Marie Mailhot on the Long-Term Mental Health Effects of the Pandemic”
Talking Scared Podcast Episode 117: “Erika T. Wurth & Bigfoot in Your Dreams”
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Report
MMIWUSA.org
“A Crisis Ignored: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,” by Andrea Cipriano
Stephen King
Megadeth
Guns N’ Roses
Metallica

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S6 Ep. 10: White Horse: Erika T. Wurth on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Intergenerational Trauma, and Heavy Metal