Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of indigenous short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

290+ Indigenous Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From folklores to modern tales of native people’s struggle to be heard, our indigenous stories have something for everyone.

🏆 Winning stories

⭐️ Recommended stories

Introducing Prompted, a new magazine written by you!

🏆 Featuring 12 prize-winning stories from our community. Download it now for FREE.

✍️ All stories

The Best Indigenous Short Stories

Long underrepresented in the literary world, Indigenous fiction is experiencing a much-deserved — and long overdue — surge in popularity these days. Dive into this genre to discover its depth and grace, from powerful new Indigenous voices like Jake Skeets and Tommy Orange to established, revered authors like Jesmyn Ward. There’s a lot to immerse yourself in through these narratives, from the eye-opening perspectives and struggles of Indigenous people in history, to fiction that brilliantly infuse genres like science fiction and fantasy with the vibrant culture of Indigenous tribes. 

Looking for some of the best Indigenous stories?

Look no further, as you might be able to find exactly what you’re seeking in this collection of Indigenous stories written by a diverse group of authors. Compiled from submissions to Reedsy’s weekly short story competition, they represent a range of forgotten experiences and perspectives waiting to be explored. You can start at the top of the page, which holds the best of the best — stories that were shortlisted by our panel of judges. 

Lots of inspiring and up-and-coming voices have emerged from this competition, so who knows? You might just discover your next favorite author here. If that magical moment happens, don’t forget to click ‘follow,’ so that you don’t miss out on any of their future stories! You can also check out some of our all-time favorite stories from the contest in the latest issue of our literary magazine, Prompted — it's available to download for free.