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

fiction/non/fiction

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.

To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/

This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Erika T. Wurth

• White Horse
• You Who Enter Here
• A Thousand Horses Out to Sea
• Buckskin Cocaine
• Crazy Horse’s Girlfriend
• Indian Trains
• “14 Contemporary Books By Native American Writers To Get Excited About”
• “Erika T. Wurth on Writing Horror During a Horror Renaissance,” CrimeReads

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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