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St. Paul & Online – Minnesota Writers Series: A Council of Dolls
January 27 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm CST
Free
The Minnesota Writers Series begins 2024 by welcoming Mona Susan Power, author of “A Council of Dolls” (Mariner Books, 2023). The acclaimed author will read excerpts from her recently published book, which will inspire conversation with the event moderator, Sheila O’Connor. Join Mona and Sheila as they discuss topics from the brutal impacts of generational trauma and systemic racism to the healing powers of love, family, and hope. This event is presented in partnership with The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, which works to understand and address the ongoing trauma created by U.S. Indian boarding school policies.
Mona Susan Power will be available for book signing and conversation after the event. “A Council of Dolls” will be available for purchase at the event, courtesy of Birchbark Books. You may also purchase the book online.
About the Book
From the mid-century metropolis of Chicago to the windswept ancestral lands of the Dakota people, to the bleak and brutal Indian boarding schools, “A Council of Dolls” is the story of three generations of Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna Dakhóta women, told in part through the stories of the dolls they carried. Gorgeous, quietly devastating, and ultimately hopeful, the novel shines a light on the echoing damage wrought by the boarding school system and the historical massacres of Indigenous people.
About the author
Mona Susan Power is the author of four books of fiction and has written short stories and essays that have appeared in publications and anthologies such as The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, and Granta. She received a bachelor’s degree and JD from Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her first novel, “The Grass Dancer,” was published in 1994.
Mona is an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna Dakhóta). She was born and raised in Chicago and now lives in Minneapolis.
About the moderator
Author Sheila O’Connor has written six novels and her short stories, poems, and essays have been featured in The New York Times, Minnesota Monthly, and Bellingham Review, among other publications. She is a graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a professor emeritus at Hamline University. Her most recent novel, “Evidence of V: A Novel in Fragments, Facts, and Fictions,” won the 2020 Minnesota Book Award (Novel & Short Story).
Registration
This free event will be in person with an option to attend virtually via Zoom. Registration required. Captioning will be available for those attending virtually.
Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org
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