Tuscaloosa, Ala. – Leah Myers’ memoir, Thinning Blood: A Memoir of Family, Myth, and Identity, was released to major booksellers today. The book is published by W.W. Norton and has been named a “Most Anticipated Book of 2023” by Millions and featured by The New York Times. Myers is the Communication Specialist on C&IS’s Communication & Advancement team.
In her memoir, Myers excavates the stories of four generations of women to leave a record of her family. Beginning with her great-grandmother, the last full-blooded Native member in their lineage, she connects each woman with her totem to construct her family’s totem pole.
“Thinning Blood is slender and poetic but also wide-ranging,” said Maud Newton of the New York Times Book Review. “moving with ease from memoir to Native history to myth and back again, yielding a blend that transcends genre. 
“I wrote this book to be a record for my family and my tribe, so that people remember us even after we are gone,” said Myers. “I’m thrilled to share it with the world and to become part of a bigger conversation around cultural identity. Writing and publishing a book has been the number one item on my bucket list since I was 13 years old. Today, that dream came true and I couldn’t be happier.”
A resident of Tuscaloosa, Myers is a member of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe of the Pacific Northwest. She received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of New Orleans, and her work has been featured in Fugue Journal, Craft Literary Magazine, High Shelf Press, and The Atlantic (forthcoming).
Thinning Blood is available at all major retailers in ebook and hardcover formats. The audiobook is scheduled to be released later this year.
