By AJ Eversole

A Conversation with the Contributors of Legendary Frybread Drive-In (Part 2)

Continuing our conversation with the contributors of Legendary Frybread Drive-In, we explore how Sandy June’s builds community across tribal nations, showcases diverse Indigenous experiences, and imagines Indigenous futures through art, music, and storytelling.

What makes Sandy June’s a place of safety and belonging?

Jen Ferguson: Well, it exists outside of the reality of space and time and nonsense that most Indigenous teens are dealing with every day. For one. But also, food and rad, trad and hilarious Sandy June’s grandparents.

How does music create atmosphere and emotional connection in your story?

Christine Hartman Derr: Music is what initially draws Mariah to the portal that transports her to Sandy June’s. She hears the familiar lyrics of a Kalyn Faye song, a Cherokee singer, and follows it. The music guides her to new friends, to new understandings about being a language learner, and to new appreciation for her art.

Jen Ferguson: I love Kalyn Fay and would follow her voice into the woods or across a river or whatever magic portal,” too.

How do these artistic expressions foster connections between generations?

Christine Hartman Derr: In “Momentum,” legendary grandparent Willa encourages Lucy by inviting her to add her own touch to the mural at Sandy June’s. The art works to connect the generations and open the door for conversations between patrons and grandparents at the drive-in.

How is Sandy June’s connected to the natural world in your story?

Christine Hartman Derr: Mariah finds a portal to Sandy June’s by noticing something amiss in her natural world. As a scientist, she is particularly attuned by her ability to recognize an unusual occurrence in the natural world. At the same time, her familiarity with nature allows her to explore this anomaly. She’s moved frequently and has lived many different places, but she finds comfort in the natural world, because she can find something familiar there, despite the varying landscapes.

Kate Hart: I used a tornado to land my character at the frybread stand because as an Okie-born Native living over the border in Arkansas, severe weather tracks from Indian Country into my region, and it always reminds me how connected we are despite the distance.

How do the stories in this anthology break stereotypes and misconceptions?

Christine Hartman Derr: I hope my characters help break stereotypes by showing that Native people are here, now, and active in all kinds of activities and hobbies. Levi’s documentary showcases Native artists across disciplines, from traditional arts like pottery to those not typically associated with Native creators such as filmmakers, painters, and even an aerialist. I also hope to add to the de-stigmatization of being a language learner.

Jen Ferguson: I love Christine’s answer both in terms of the arts, hobbies and language learning, but I’ll add that my story includes a young, single Native mom, too. And she’s thriving in this story. Taking care of her kid and offering great advice to teens she meets at Sandy June’s.

Speculative Fiction and Indigenous Futures

What role does speculative fiction play in imagining Indigenous futures?

AJ Eversole: What I think is special about this anthology’s connection to speculative fiction is that it challenges the colonial ideas of boundaries and geography. Instead, it envisions Indigenous young people who navigate contemporary relationships while maintaining cultural connections. The fact it exists in multiple spaces is the ultimate sense of community that most Indigenous people hold in high regard.

Christine Hartman Derr: I agree with AJ wholeheartedly. It’s important for all identities to find themselves in various genres, because we all deserve to see ourselves in our favorite stories. Embracing speculative fiction with Indigenous futures in mind clears a path so our young Indigenous readers who want to be writers can dream of writing stories within that space.

Jen Ferguson: Yes, yes and yes. I especially feel this as someone who wrote a story about people who couldn’t afford (literally financially) that reunion without a speculative geographical thing happening. I love how the speculative can rewrite how time and space work. Maybe if we all imagined beyond boundaries we think are “natural” or firmly set, we can make the world into the place of our hearts.

The Heart of Sandy June’s

Through these conversations, it becomes clear that Sandy June’s Legendary Frybread Drive-In represents something kind of profound. It’s a space where Indigenous youth can exist fully as themselves. The anthology reimagines what Indigenous spaces can be and do through its storytelling.

The speculative elements aren’t just magical window dressing; they’re acts of sovereignty, asserting Indigenous peoples right to exist beyond colonial boundaries and limitations. When Sandy June’s appears exactly when and where it’s needed, it reflects the resilience and adaptability that has always characterized Indigenous communities.

As these authors demonstrate, the future of Indigenous literature isn’t about choosing between tradition and modernity, but about weaving them together in new and powerful ways. Sandy June’s serves as a reminder that home isn’t always a fixed place on a map. Sometimes it’s the community we create, the stories we share, and the connections that transcend time and space.

Legendary Frybread Drive-In invites readers into a world where Indigenous joy isn’t just possible—it’s inevitable, delicious, and absolutely legendary.

Cynsational Notes

See part 1 of this series, the Creation of Sandy June’s With a Focus on Worldbuilding & Cultural Foundations and find the Educator’s Guide here, complete with discussion questions and extension activities.

Jen Ferguson (she/her) is Métis/Michif and white Canadian settler, an activist, a feminist, an auntie, and an accomplice armed with a PhD in English and Creative Writing. She believes writing, teaching, and beading are political acts. Her debut YA novel The Summer of Bitter and Sweet (Heartdrum/HarperCollins) received seven starred reviews, won the 2022 Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People’s Literature–Text, is a 2023 Stonewall Honor Book, an NPR Best Book of 2022, a School Library Journal Best Young Adult Book of 2022, a Chicago Public Library Best Teen Fiction of 2022, a 2022 Horn Book FanFare Book, a Kirkus 2022 Best Young Adult Book, a 2023 White Pine Award Nominee, a 2022 Young Adult Golden Poppy Finalist and a 2023 Morris Award Finalist.

Kate Hart is the author of After The Fall (Macmillan, 2017) and a contributor to multiple anthologies including Never Whistle At Night (Penguin RandomHouse 2024), Legendary Frybread Drive-In (Heartdrum, 2025), Out Now (Inkyard, 2020), and Body Talk (Algonquin). Before becoming a writer, she earned degrees in Spanish and history at Hendrix College, taught preschool and middle school, and wrote grants for a local nonprofit. She helped run YA Highway, a three-time pick for Writer’s Digest’s “101 Best Websites for Writers,” and has appeared at literature festivals across the country. Born in Oklahoma and raised in Arkansas, Kate is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation with Choctaw heritage and a member of the Tulsa chapter of Matriarch. She lives with her family on a mountainside outside of Fayetteville, where she co-owns Natural State Treehouses and sells beadwork and fiber arts as Kate Hart Studio. Her literary work is represented by Alexandra Levick at Writers House.

Christine Hartman Derr is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She’s a graduate from VCFA’s Writing for Children MFA program, where she won the Revisionary Award, Candlewick Picture Book Prize, T.A. Barron Prize for Nature Writing, and was selected as a DEI Fellow and a Center for Arts and Social Justice Fellow. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from Florida State University. Christine writes across age markets and genres in the KidLit realm, and is currently working on revising her middle grade novel in verse. Her work includes themes on identity, belonging, and sharing the Cherokee language. She runs the blog Paw Prints in the Sink and has written articles for regional publications. Originally from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Christine lives in Tennessee with her spouse, children, and a rambunctious crew of lovable pets. Christine is represented by Sara Crowe of Sara Crowe Literary.

AJ Eversole, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, grew up in rural Oklahoma where her imagination flourished through endless games of make believe. A graduate of Oklahoma State University, she is a contributor to the forthcoming anthology Legendary Frybread Drive-In (Heartdrum, 2025) and Beyond The Glittering World (Torrey House Press, 2025) and aspires to traditional publication. She lives in Fort Worth, Texas with her husband and son. Visit her on Threads & Instagram: @ajeversole