Great Reads MA 2026:
Partner Resources
Each year, the Massachusetts Center for the Book selects a youth and adult title to represent the Commonwealth at the annual Library of Congress National Book Festival as part of the “Great Reads from Great Places” initiative. To support community engagement with the “Great Reads” selection, Mass Center for the Book gives away hundreds of copies of one of our chosen titles to Massachusetts-based public libraries, museums, historical societies, and cultural organizations for use in discussion groups and community programming. Thank you for partnering with us this year to bring the title, Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for Indigenous Identity into your community. We are so excited to work with you!
This webpage walks you through the step-by-step process for running a successful Great Reads MA program. We suggest you read it all the way through to understand the timeline, and then return anytime you are ready to complete the next step.
STEP ONE: SCHEDULE YOUR DISCUSSION SESSIONS!
Please submit the date(s) for your scheduled discussion session(s) by no later than June 30th at 11:59pm.
To submit, you must have a link to the calendar listing on your website with a registration page. Please submit your event using the Google Form below. If you are scheduling multiple events, please submit all of them. You can submit up to two events per form.
You may use the downloadable event graphics (to the right) and sample event description (below) on your website listing and promotional materials. If you would like an editable Canva link, please email us at info@massbook.org.
If you are writing your own event description, please credit us with the line: “This discussion series is part of the 2026 Great Reads MA program, sponsored by the Massachusetts Center for the Book.”
Please note that we will only ship your books once your calendar link has been submitted to us.
Sample Event Description
Join [Library/Org Name] on [Day, Date, and Time] for an engaging discussion about the 2026 Massachusetts Great Reads title Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for Indigenous Identity by Joseph Lee. Registered participants will receive a free copy of the book (while supplies last) and be invited to a virtual Q&A with the author!
Before Martha’s Vineyard became one of the most iconic vacation destinations in the country, it was home to the Wampanoag people. Today, as tourists flock to the idyllic beaches, the island has become increasingly unaffordable for tribal members, with nearly three-quarters now living off-island. Growing up Aquinnah Wampanoag, journalist Joseph Lee grappled with what this situation meant for his tribe, how the community can continue to grow, and more broadly, what it means to be Indigenous.
Registered participants will be invited to participate in an exclusive Q&A with Joseph Lee on September 29th at 6pm. This discussion series is part of the 2026 Great Reads MA program, sponsored by the Massachusetts Center for the Book.
About the Author
Joseph Lee is an Aquinnah Wampanoag writer based in New York City. He has an MFA from Columbia University and teaches creative writing at Mercy University. His writing has been published in The Guardian, BuzzFeed News, Vox, Electric Literature, High Country News, and more. He was a Margins Fellow at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and a Senior Indigenous Affairs Fellow at Grist. He has won multiple awards from the Indigenous Journalists Association for environmental coverage, health coverage, and beat reporting and was awarded a 2024 Silvers Grant for Work in Progress. Follow him on X at @JosephVLee and on Instagram at @Joseph.V.Lee.
STEP TWO: PROMOTE THE DISCUSSION GROUP
After you submit your event, we will send you high and low ink versions of the discussion group flyer customized for your event. These flyers can be used for both print and social media purposes.
If you have not received a link to the flyer by July 15th, please reach out to us.
We encourage you to use your networks! Word of mouth is the best way to ensure attendance. If you are working the book into a pre-existing book club or program and want to create your own graphics, please use our logo and credit us with the line: “This discussion series is part of the 2026 Great Reads MA program, sponsored by the Massachusetts Center for the Book.”
Example flyer, do not use this version
REVIEW FACILITATOR MATERIALS
The discussion guide for Nothing More of This Land is available for facilitators at the link below. Each book will come with a half sheet that has the overarching questions on it, and the in-depth questions are available to augment your discussions. Feel free to choose whichever questions most resonate, and to add your own tie-ins to your group’s specific interests.
You are welcome to print and share this guide with your discussion participants!
As your group dives into the themes of Nothing More of This Land, especially the ongoing erasure of Native American existence and contribution in Massachusetts, it is important to provide a clear framework about how your group will engage in discussions of race and identity. Below you will find some group norms to start off your conversations.
FURTHER RESOURCES
FINDING THE TRIBAL LAND YOU OCCUPY
Native Land Digital helps you find information about the Indigenous peoples, languages, and territories connected to the land where you live.. This resource recognizes that many maps of Native territories have misrepresented the flexible and ever shifting relationship with the land that characterizes Indigenous cultures.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A very common tool within contemporary discussions of Indigenous rights is to craft a Land Acknowledgement. The Native Governance Center (NGC), a Native-led organization, has a great guide for crafting your own land acknowledgment. As they say, however, the work does not stop with the wording of the acknowledgement.
This article from Khelsilem Tl'aḵwasiḵ̓an Sxwchálten, former councillor for the Squamish Nation Council, explains the limits of land acknowledgments. For a helpful guide on taking action toward reparations, see the NGC’s Beyond Land Acknowledgment: A Guide. Further resources and information can be found on the Resource Generation website.
LAND BACK PROJECTS IN MASSACHUSETTS
Despite pervasive colonialist myths, Native Americans continue to live and thrive on the east coast and in Massachusetts. One organization that is organizing Land Back in Massachusetts is the Native Land Conservancy, which actively stewards land donated by individuals to the Indigenous communities of Massachusetts.
Aquinnah Cultural Center also works alongside the Aquinnah Land Initiative to restore ancestral lands to the Wampanoag.
NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS
Statewide: Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness, Indigenous Peoples Day Massachusetts, Massachusetts Commission on Indian Affairs, United American Indians of New England, Cultural Survival, Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project
Boston Area: Native American Lifelines of Boston and the North American Indian Center of Boston
Central Mass: United Native American Cultural Center
Western Mass: Ohketeau Cultural Center and the Nolumbeka Project
MASSACHUSETTS TRIBES
Please note that this is an incomplete list, most especially due to the incompatibility of U.S. state maps to more expansive Native American territories. For example, a tribe whose tribal headquarters is in Connecticut might also include areas of Massachusetts. Make sure to do your own research on the tribes in your area.
Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation
Chappaquiddick Tribe of the Wampanoag Indian Nation
Nipmuck Council of Chaubunagungamaug
RELATED ARTICLES
Noogaahz Wixon Wants You to Know Who the Nauset Are from The Provincetown Independent
Tribal lands were stolen. What happens when those ancestral territories are returned? by Joseph Lee (Vox)
Joseph Lee Interview: Beyond polo shirts and presidents, Martha's Vineyard has an indigenous past and present (NPR)
Essay: Wampanoag Experience Project highlights Native history in the South Coast area by Hartman Deetz (The New Bedford Light)
We are not your dead ancestors: Playing Indian and white posession by Kim Tallbear (Unsettle on Substack)
How the world’s favorite conservation model was built on colonial violence by Joseph Lee (Grist)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For more books on the fight for Indigenous Sovereignty, visit our “Reading the Revolution” page and click on the “American Indian Sovereignty & Civil Rights” reading list
First Nations Development Institute 2026 Reading List
Robbins Library’s Indigenous People in Massachusetts: A Library Guide
On Tuesday, September 29th, at 6pm, Mass Center for the Book will be hosting a virtual Q&A with author Joseph Lee. This will be an opportunity for Great Reads MA book box partners around the state to join us and ask the author their questions. We highly encourage you, if you are able, to host a Q&A watch party at your library, museum, or community center on September 29th. Participants will also have the option to watch from home by registering for the Zoom at the shareable link below. As a partner, please register your library for the Q&A so you can receive the Zoom link for the livestream. Due to our 100 person Zoom limit, we ask that you encourage your patrons to attend your watch party rather than participating from home.
Details:
September 29th at 6pm
Zoom link provided upon registration
Submit Your Questions in Advance!
As we gear up for the Q&A, MCB will be collecting questions in advance for Joseph Lee. There will be an opportunity to submit questions via the chat feature during the event, but we highly encourage you to submit questions in advance.
During your discussion sessions you can brainstorm some questions as a group and submit them in a batch, or you are welcome to send the link to your discussion group email list and have patrons submit their own questions. To give us time to prepare, advance questions are due on September 25th at 11:59pm.
Note: You do not have to be finished reading the book or finished with your discussions prior to the Q&A.
Sample Email:
Dear Patrons,
Thank you for registering for our community discussion of the MA Great Read Nothing More of This Land by Joseph Lee. We are so excited for our discussions and look forward to meeting with you soon. If you have not yet picked up your free copy of the book, please make sure to do so!
In addition to our discussions, Great Reads MA groups across the state are invited to an exclusive virtual Q&A with the author! This event will be on September 29th at 6pm, and we will be hosting a watch party (insert details here). For those who can’t make it in person to our watch party, you can register to receive a Zoom link here.
For those of you who would like to submit questions for the author in advance, you may do so using this form. You do not need to be finished reading the book to attend the Q&A or submit a question!
If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.
Thank you,
Your name