A diverse set of voices can be heard tonight at BookPeople of Moscow, when a local literary journal launches its fall 2014 edition at 6 p.m.

The literary journal, “Yellow Medicine Review,” features exclusively indigenous writing and often including very prestigious writers, said Misty Ellingburg, editor-in-chief of “Four Winds” magazine, and one of the writers featured in this edition.

Ellingburg said “Yellow Medicine Review” is one of the few journals that features indigenous writing, and not just that of Native Americans.

Tiffany Midge, guest editor of the fall 2014 edition of the “Yellow Medicine Review,” said the journal defines indigenous universally, to include those native to places outside of just North America.

“I like that the journal kind of has that sense of spirit,” Midge said.

Tonight’s launch party for the journal will be the first time it’s been held at BookPeople, said Jamaica Ritcher, marketing and events coordinator at BookPeople.

The launch is great for supporting the literary arts, and is also is a way for the store to support local writers, Ritcher said.

She said it is fun to learn about and celebrate what the journal does. Cultural literacy is important, she said.

“This is a chance to see a selection of readers,” Ritcher said.

BookPeople normally has readings by one author, but this event is a chance to hear a variety of voices, she said.

This issue of the journal has an interesting mix, which includes people who are indigenous to India, Palestine, China, Latin America, Uganda, and Nigeria, Midge said.

“It was pretty extensive,” she said.

Midge said her guest position at the journal was very busy, as the edition is very large, spanning more than 300 pages.

“I think all of us are very honored to be included in the compilation that Tiffany put together,” Ellingburg said.

She recommends anyone get a copy, and especially one of this edition, which she said is beautiful and features a wide array of different styles and genres of writing.

“There’s a strong connection between the indigenous people across the world,” Ellingburg said.

She said she feels this edition of the journal really focuses on that connection and is almost a victory song for the cultures coming out of colonization.

In a powwow there is always a victory dance, and she said this issue is very like that.

Midge, who is enrolled in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North Dakota, said she receives works from all different kinds of tribal people and sometimes even by tribal elders. 

Many of the tribes are in rural areas, and the population can be really isolated, she said. Often they are marginalized, and it is important that their voices are heard and published.

Some of the authors featured in this edition are local to the Palouse, and five of them will be at BookPeople today for the Launch, including one poet and four prose writers, Midge said. They will read short excerpts from their work in the journal.

Ellingburg will be one of those writers.

Her piece that she will read from is called “Mary,” and tells the story of a 16-year-old girl who lives on the reservation.

The piece is complicated and fairly dark, as it describes the young girl overdosing on drugs, Ellingburg said. The piece addresses a central truth about the reservation. However, the piece ends on a positive note, which deals with a resurgence of the youth.

“If you’re an honest writer, then you’re not going to censor out the ugly details,” she said.

Ellingburg said it’s the dark parts that show the beauty.

“I don’t believe in silencing any voices,” she said.