Angeline Boulley

Boulley is an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.[4] She was born and raised in "Bahweting (the place of the rapids) in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan."[5]

She is a graduate of Central Michigan University.[6]

Her "father is a traditional firekeeper, who strikes ceremonial fires at spiritual activities in the tribal community and ensures protocols are followed, while providing cultural teachings through stories told around the fire."[5]

Boulley has worked in "Indian education at the tribal, state, and national levels."[5] At the tribal level, she served as the Educational Director and Assistant Director.[5] She also served on the Board of Regents at Bay Mills Community College before becoming the Director for the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education.[5]

At present, Boulley works as a full-time author.[5]

Boulley's debut novel, Firekeeper's Daughter, was published March 16, 2021 by Henry Holt and Co.[7] The book is a New York Times best seller.[2] Time magazine named it one of the best 100 young adult books of all time.[1] In 2022, it won the Michael L. Printz Award for young adult literature and the William C. Morris Award, as well as the American Indian Youth Literature Award Best Young Adult Honor.[8] In the same year, it was named to the Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Best Books of the Year List with an "Outstanding Merit" distinction and shared the Committee's 2022 Josette Frank Award with Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson's Milo Imagines the World.[9][10] The German translation, which retains the English title and was published in 2022 by cbj, was nominated in March 2023 for the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in the category "YA novel".

The novel is being adapted for television at Netflix by Higher Ground Productions, former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company.[7]