Author Joseph Lee brings Wampanoag history and identity to Jackson Heights audience

Award‑winning journalist and Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal member Joseph Lee has used his debut book to peel back the tourist‑brochure image of Martha’s Vineyard and centre the island’s Indigenous origins. At a packed conversation at The World’s Borough Bookshop in Jackson Heights, Lee discussed Nothing More of This Land: Community, Power, and the Search for Indigenous Identity, weaving personal history with reporting from Indigenous communities across North America.

The Jackson Heights event, part of Lee’s East Coast tour, was hosted by writer Katie Yee and drew a crowd of neighbours and readers who came to hear Lee’s reflections on identity, community and climate. He traced his upbringing on Noepe — the Wampanoag name for Martha’s Vineyard — and set it against the island’s reputation as a wealthy holiday playground, arguing that the place cannot be understood without acknowledging its Wampanoag roots and present‑day community.

Lee said the writing process was shaped by time he spent with tribes from the Klamath Basin to Alaska, foregrounding how shared concerns — climate extremes, land access, cultural continuity — connect Indigenous communities facing different geographies. He emphasised responsibility in storytelling, noting that people had trusted him with their lives and that accuracy and respect were non‑negotiable.

The event venue was itself part of the story. The World’s Borough Bookshop has built a reputation for championing BIPOC authors; founder Adrian Cepeda introduced Lee and underscored the shop’s mission to make space for voices that have long been sidelined. Lee said choosing the Queens venue matched his hope that the book would reach readers far beyond coastal literature circuits.

Lee also pointed readers to Wampanoag and other Indigenous authors who informed his work, including Linda Coombs and Morgan Talty, while sharing that the most rewarding passages grew from slow, everyday reporting with families on Country. The exchange closed with audience questions about climate threats to island communities and practical ways non‑Indigenous readers can support Wampanoag efforts to protect land and water.