A highly original and poetic self-portrait from one of America's most acclaimed writers.

Leslie Marmon Silko's new book, her first in ten years, combines memoir with family history and reflections on the creatures and beings that command her attention and inform her vision of the world, taking readers along on her daily walks through the arroyos and ledges of the Sonoran desert in Arizona. Silko weaves tales from her family's past into her observations, using the turquoise stones she finds on the walks to unite the strands of her stories, while the beauty and symbolism of the landscape around her, and of the snakes, birds, dogs, and other animals that share her life and form part of her family, figure prominently in her memories. Strongly influenced by Native American storytelling traditions, The Turquoise Ledge becomes a moving and deeply personal contemplation of the enormous spiritual power of the natural world-of what these creatures and landscapes can communicate to us, and how they are all linked.

The book is Silko's first extended work of nonfiction, and its ambitious scope, clear prose, and inventive structure are captivating. The Turquoise Ledge will delight loyal fans and new readers alike, and it marks the return of the unique voice and vision of a gifted storyteller.
Praise for The Turquoise Ledge:
 
“Engaging . . . Silko writes of many things, with affectionate portraits of friends and family and sharply observed notes on history, personal and universal . . . At dazzling moments, she pulls seemingly disconnected themes together: turquoise, rain, Aztec mythology and language, the otherworld and other worlds and, yes, snakes . . . The best parts  recount moments that many desert dwellers will instantly recognize: the near-ecstasy that comes when a cloud decides to open up and spatter a little rain on the ground, the feel of shuddering summer heat on the skin.” The Washington Post
 
“Evocative . . . Less an autobiography than an exploration of [Silko’s] relationship with the natural and spiritual worlds—and it’s a very close relationship . . . there’s nothing soft about her spiritualism or her environmentalism. She knows better than most that the strong kill the weak, and sometimes devour them.” The New York Times Book Review

“Leslie Marmon Silko writes in the language of the spirit—reading her words as she constructs a portrait of herself for this memoir is not only like being inside her head, it is like eavesdropping on her silent conversations with her gods…she thinks about things she has lost and about people in her past.  She thinks about the ghosts she has seen and what is left after the people one loves pass on . . . she thinks about the importance of animals in her life . . . sentence by sentence, the reader is given an enormous amount of useful information about how to get the most out of life, beginning in the present moment.” The Los Angeles Times
 
“Leslie Marmon Silko has painted a map out of words, allowing us to not only see the world, but walk within it with the grace of one who bows toward all living things. Encompassing both Earth and Sky, The Turquoise Ledge is more than a memoir. It is a personal mythology born out of the genealogy of her ancestors. Silko listens and locates her own story in place, through memory, language, and gesture. Portraits of grasshoppers as Star Beings; a quartz crystal found in the shape of an owl; a piece of turquoise that pierces the heart; this book is a stone in hand, a talisman brought home, that both heals and inspires. Gravity is the word that comes to mind.” —Terry Tempest Williams
 
“Wildly informative, joyously unselfconscious, this sinuous sharing of observation, obsession, and taking care is a treasure—a classic of desert writing. In these end times when humankind’s disrespect for the earth has reached the murderous depths of true mental illness, Silko’s fresh, vivid, and slantywise correspondence with beings so refreshingly not-us is as restorative as desert rain. She blesses us with her ghost dogs, her snakes and birds and star beings. This is just a marvelous book.” —Joy Williams
© Courtesy of Leslie Marmon Silko
Leslie Marmon Silko was born in New Mexico in 1948 to a family whose ancestry includes Mexican, Laguna Indian, and European forebears. She is the author of ten books of fiction, poetry, and memoir, including Ceremony, Storyteller, Almanac of the Dead, Gardens in the Dunes, and The Turquoise Ledge. Considered by many as one of the most important contemporary Native American writers, Silko's honors include a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" fellowship, the Christopher Lightfoot Walker Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for significant contribution to American literature, and the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for lifetime achievement by a writer whose work focuses on the American West. She has been named a Living Cultural Treasure by the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities Council, and has also received the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award. View titles by Leslie Marmon Silko

About

A highly original and poetic self-portrait from one of America's most acclaimed writers.

Leslie Marmon Silko's new book, her first in ten years, combines memoir with family history and reflections on the creatures and beings that command her attention and inform her vision of the world, taking readers along on her daily walks through the arroyos and ledges of the Sonoran desert in Arizona. Silko weaves tales from her family's past into her observations, using the turquoise stones she finds on the walks to unite the strands of her stories, while the beauty and symbolism of the landscape around her, and of the snakes, birds, dogs, and other animals that share her life and form part of her family, figure prominently in her memories. Strongly influenced by Native American storytelling traditions, The Turquoise Ledge becomes a moving and deeply personal contemplation of the enormous spiritual power of the natural world-of what these creatures and landscapes can communicate to us, and how they are all linked.

The book is Silko's first extended work of nonfiction, and its ambitious scope, clear prose, and inventive structure are captivating. The Turquoise Ledge will delight loyal fans and new readers alike, and it marks the return of the unique voice and vision of a gifted storyteller.

Reviews

Praise for The Turquoise Ledge:
 
“Engaging . . . Silko writes of many things, with affectionate portraits of friends and family and sharply observed notes on history, personal and universal . . . At dazzling moments, she pulls seemingly disconnected themes together: turquoise, rain, Aztec mythology and language, the otherworld and other worlds and, yes, snakes . . . The best parts  recount moments that many desert dwellers will instantly recognize: the near-ecstasy that comes when a cloud decides to open up and spatter a little rain on the ground, the feel of shuddering summer heat on the skin.” The Washington Post
 
“Evocative . . . Less an autobiography than an exploration of [Silko’s] relationship with the natural and spiritual worlds—and it’s a very close relationship . . . there’s nothing soft about her spiritualism or her environmentalism. She knows better than most that the strong kill the weak, and sometimes devour them.” The New York Times Book Review

“Leslie Marmon Silko writes in the language of the spirit—reading her words as she constructs a portrait of herself for this memoir is not only like being inside her head, it is like eavesdropping on her silent conversations with her gods…she thinks about things she has lost and about people in her past.  She thinks about the ghosts she has seen and what is left after the people one loves pass on . . . she thinks about the importance of animals in her life . . . sentence by sentence, the reader is given an enormous amount of useful information about how to get the most out of life, beginning in the present moment.” The Los Angeles Times
 
“Leslie Marmon Silko has painted a map out of words, allowing us to not only see the world, but walk within it with the grace of one who bows toward all living things. Encompassing both Earth and Sky, The Turquoise Ledge is more than a memoir. It is a personal mythology born out of the genealogy of her ancestors. Silko listens and locates her own story in place, through memory, language, and gesture. Portraits of grasshoppers as Star Beings; a quartz crystal found in the shape of an owl; a piece of turquoise that pierces the heart; this book is a stone in hand, a talisman brought home, that both heals and inspires. Gravity is the word that comes to mind.” —Terry Tempest Williams
 
“Wildly informative, joyously unselfconscious, this sinuous sharing of observation, obsession, and taking care is a treasure—a classic of desert writing. In these end times when humankind’s disrespect for the earth has reached the murderous depths of true mental illness, Silko’s fresh, vivid, and slantywise correspondence with beings so refreshingly not-us is as restorative as desert rain. She blesses us with her ghost dogs, her snakes and birds and star beings. This is just a marvelous book.” —Joy Williams

Author

© Courtesy of Leslie Marmon Silko
Leslie Marmon Silko was born in New Mexico in 1948 to a family whose ancestry includes Mexican, Laguna Indian, and European forebears. She is the author of ten books of fiction, poetry, and memoir, including Ceremony, Storyteller, Almanac of the Dead, Gardens in the Dunes, and The Turquoise Ledge. Considered by many as one of the most important contemporary Native American writers, Silko's honors include a MacArthur Foundation "Genius" fellowship, the Christopher Lightfoot Walker Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for significant contribution to American literature, and the Robert Kirsch Award from the Los Angeles Times for lifetime achievement by a writer whose work focuses on the American West. She has been named a Living Cultural Treasure by the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities Council, and has also received the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award. View titles by Leslie Marmon Silko