An anthology of Indigenous voices, published by Utah publishing house Torrey House Press, has won a 2026 American Book Award.

“Beyond the Glittering World” features 22 different pieces from Indigenous female, two-spirit and marginalized gender writers of varying ages — including Utah author Stacie Shannon Denetsosie — about their dreams and reimagined futures.

Denetsosie, a member of the Navajo Nation, said the honor means a lot, especially right now.

“We’re in a time where Indigenous ancestral lands are at constant risk of exploitation, extraction, and there’s so much Indigenous erasure on a lot of different levels,” she said. “The fact that they selected our book just proves to me that Indigenous futures matter more than ever.”

Denetsosie’s debut novel, “The Missing Morningstar and Other Stories,” helped her earn an honor from The National Book Foundation.

Denetsosie edited “Beyond the Glittering World” alongside Kinsale Drake, a poet who wrote a piece for the collection, and runs a book club for Indigenous girls: NDN Girls Book Club.

In a statement, Drake wrote that she is “thrilled” the anthology won the award.

“Indigenous authors and queer writers are facing immense censorship by the state of Utah despite the fact that these are our homelands, and we hope that this shows that our stories are not only desired, they are necessary when we teach and think of ‘American literature,’” Drake wrote.

The award, Denetsosie added, is a nod to all of their contributors.

The American Book Award, awarded by the Before Columbus Foundation, recognizes “outstanding American literary achievement” across the literary world without “limitations or restrictions.”

“Beyond the Glittering World” is one of 16 winners and honorees this year. Previous American Book Award winners include Toni Morrison, Isabel Allende, R.F Kuang and bell hooks.

Darcie Little Badger, a speculative fiction author, also helped edit the book alongside Drake and Denetsosie.

Last year, Little Badger canceled an appearance at Weber State University where she was supposed to discuss “Beyond a Glittering World” alongside Denetsosie and Drake after the school gave her a list of banned DEI words she couldn’t use, according to reporting from The Salt Lake Tribune.

Torrey House Press co-founder, publisher and co-executive director Kirsten Johanna Allen, along with Will Neville-Rehbehn, the co-executive director and executive editor, said they were elated by the news of the award.

“We knew we had turned this project over to some of the most creative and thoughtful writers out there working today,” Allen said. “It’s wonderful to see this honor for these editors and for these contributors.”

Neville-Rehbehn added that they originally wanted to pursue publication of this anthology because of the reception Denetsosie’s debut novel received and because they were inspired by Drake’s book club.

“We’re always asking ourselves, ‘What can a book do in the world after it’s published?’” Neville-Rehbehn said.

It also signifies the growth the publishing house has had in its 16 years. When it was first founded by Allen and Mark Bailey, Allen said they wanted to help fill the gap in the literary landscape when it came to Western stories, particularly from Indigenous writers.

“This book in particular is such a great expansion of that founding ethos,” Neville-Rehbehn said.