Award-winning author David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, is visiting our community next month to speak about his debut novel, “Winter Counts.”

This gripping crime thriller, set on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, follows Virgil Wounded Horse, a vigilante navigating the complexities of justice, identity and survival in Native American life. 

Named one of the best books of 2020 by NPR, Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, the novel offers a powerful exploration of contemporary Indigenous issues through a deeply personal and suspenseful narrative. Weiden provides a thrilling account of the twists and turns of dealing with the arrival of heroin on the reservation, and the personal turn Virgil’s vigilantism takes when his nephew is directly affected.

Weiden also has short stories appearing in multiple anthologies, including “The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories 2022,” “Denver Noir,” “Midnight Hour” and “Never Whistle at Night.“

Weiden received his masters from the Institute of American Indian Arts, his law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a professor of English and Native American and Indigenous studies at Stony Brook University and serves on the faculty of the Cedar Crest Pan-European Master of Fine Arts Program.

As part of the Grand County Library District’s One Grand Book promotion, copies of “Winter Counts” are available in a variety of formats. Printed copies are available at all five library branches — in Fraser, Granby, Grand Lake, Kremmling and Hot Sulphur Springs — as well as through interlibrary loan. The e-book and audiobook, read by Darrell Dennis, are also available via Libby and Hoopla. Or you can purchase a copy through Mountain Shire Books or Bookshop.org.

Copies of the book will also be available for purchase at the author talk event at 6 p.m. March 28 at Granby Library, where the author will present for about 45 minutes followed by a Q&A session. A donation of $20 per person is suggested.

Audience members will have an opportunity to purchase copies of “Winter Counts” and have them signed by the author. The event is hosted by the Grand County Library Foundation and award-winning author, Martin J. Smith.

“David’s first novel was a breakout hit for good reason,” said Smith, who founded and leads the Grand County Community of Writers. “He takes readers into a murky world of freelance criminal justice on a South Dakota reservation that feels as authentic as it feels desperate. And local readers will really enjoy the scenes Weiden sets in Denver, where he lives with his family.” 

“We’re thrilled to have David in Grand County to give those who’ve already discovered ‘Winter Counts’ a chance to meet and talk with him and also introduce his work to new readers,” Smith added.

Check the programs calendar at GCLD.org for additional programs related to issues raised in “Winter Counts.”

John Marte is the digital resources associate for the Grand County Library District. Reach him at jmarte@gcld.org.