102 TIME November 8/November 15, 2021
PROFILE
Darcie Little Badger
will tell you the story
By Annabel Gutterman
D
ARCIE LITTLE BADGER HAS BEEN
shaped by stories—the stories passed
down to her through generations of fam-
ily members, the stories she devoured as
a fantasy- obsessed kid, the stories she now writes
in books for young adults. And, of course, the story
that gave her her name. She was born Darcie Erin
Ryan—Little Badger coming, in the tradition of the
Lipan Apache tribe, upon graduation from high
school. “Badger” is an important fi gure in the tribe’s
origin narrative, which says that at fi rst, the earth
was empty—and then the creatures of the world
below set out to explore it. Pausing on a park bench
in Brooklyn, the author describes the signifi cance
of her namesake. “Badger is the animal person who
went up to earth and was responsible enough to
then go back down,” she explains, “and say, ‘Hey,
y’all should go see this thing!’ ”
Exploring the mysteries of the planet—and the
beings that may exist beyond our comprehension—
is what anchors Little Badger’s acclaimed young-
adult fi ction. Her books sink into the depths of
humanity’s darkest realities—gun violence, grief,
our destruction of the planet—but also imagine
the spirits, ghosts and animals that could exist
alongside us. Her second young-adult novel, A
Snake Falls to Earth, is a coming-of-age fantasy-
thriller that fl ips between the perspective of an
asexual teenage Lipan Apache girl and a cotton-
mouth snake. The book, to be published Nov. 23,
was long- listed for this year’s National Book Award
for Young People’s Literature. And like her debut,
Elatsoe, which was published to fanfare in 2020,
Little Badger’s new genre- bending narrative draws
on her heritage and the tradition of story telling
that has informed her worldview.
“For Native readers, especially Lipan Apache
readers, I do hope that they are able to see more of
their culture than they have in the past,” says the
34-year-old author. “And for non-Native readers, I
hope that they’re able to connect to this character
and learn a little bit.”
THE LIPAN APACHE have long lived on the land
that is now Texas. Although Little Badger was
raised in several places around the world, mov-
ing because of her father’s job, she considers
Texas to be home. Growing up, she worked her
way through the fantasy sections of each local li-
brary. When she was in the fi rst grade, she wrote
her fi rst book, a 40-page mystery involving a mur-
dered garden and opals in an attic. Her father, who
was pursuing a Ph.D. in English at the
time, helped her send the manuscript
to a publisher. They responded with a
kindly rejection letter. Her father had
it framed. “He wanted me to see how
far I would go someday,” she says, add-
ing, “It’s good to learn as a writer you’re
going to deal with rejections.”
She carried that lesson with her to
college at Princeton. After trying two
years in a row to be accepted into the
school’s creative- writing program, and
being turned down both times, Little
Badger pivoted to another subject that
had piqued her interest: earth science.
An introduction to oceanography
course left her wondering about all
the parts of the world she never knew
existed. On a research trip to Bermuda,
Little Badger traveled on a small vessel
to the deep ocean. She hopped in the
water and swam, fl oating hundreds
of meters above the ocean fl oor. “It
was dark underneath my feet, and I
felt myself being pulled in,” she says,
bright-eyed as she remembers how it
felt. “Even though that was actually
quite scary, it was also thrilling,
because I realized I had no idea what
was under my feet—and I really wanted
to understand more.” She went on to
earn a Ph.D. in oceanography, then took
a job editing earth science papers. In
2017, she started writing her fi rst novel
on the side.
Little Badger’s fascination with the
natural world, particularly her study of
climate science, has proved pivotal in
her fi ction. It comes through clearly in
A Snake Falls to Earth, part of which is
set in an alternate version of near future
Texas, where hurricanes and natural di-
sasters are happening with an alarming
and ever-increasing frequency. Any re-
semblance to the extreme weather that
has grown more and more frequent in
the real world is entirely deliberate. “It’s
a real concern for young people, who
have unfortunately inherited this state
of the world,” Little Badger says.
She thinks a lot about young people
and the struggles they face. “Teens are
intelligent, they’re emotionally complex,
and they’re experiencing many things
for the fi rst time,” she says. She admits
that writing adolescent characters gets
more challenging with age, as she gets
further and further from that period inTimeOff Books
△
A Snake Falls to
Earth, like Elatsoe,
features a protagonist
who is an asexual
teen member of the
Lipan Apache tribe