The Grand Marais Public Library and WTIP Community Radio, in conjunction with the Grand Marais Art Colony and the Library Friends of Cook County, are presenting a community book read of Linda LeGarde Grover’s “The Road Back to Sweetgrass.”
The program encourages as many people in the community as possible to read the same book, and to explore it and its themes, and how they relate to our lives in Cook County.
After reviewing many possible titles, representatives from the library and WTIP chose “The Road Back to Sweetgrass,” a novel by Linda LeGarde Grover, a member of the Bois Forte band of Ojibwe. “The Road Back to Sweetgrass” has been awarded the Native Writers Circle of the Americas First Book Award.
“The Road Back to Sweetgrass” is set in northern Minnesota on the fictional Mozhay Point reservation, and follows a trio of American Indian women, from the 1970s to the present, observing their coming of age and the intersection of their lives as they navigate love, economic hardship, loss, and changing family dynamics. The story moves between past and present, Native and non- Native culture, history and myth, and tradition and survival.
The community book read aims to unify the community by bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds through reading one book and promoting thought and discussion, as well as providing a variety of events that are free and open to the public and relate to the book’s topics.
Events taking place Nov. 3-5 include a presentation by Carol Miller, “American Indian Women Writers”; author Linda LeGarde Grover, “The Story Behind the Road Back to Sweetgrass,” an in-depth look at Indian policies in effect at the time of the story, with emphasis on the termination polices in effect from the 1950s through the 1980s; Felicia Schneiderhan, memoir writing workshop; author Linda LeGarde Grover, “Modern Anishinaabe Women – Links to Tradition and History,” a look at continuity and adaptation as experienced by women illustrated by the characters in the book; and Marcie McIntire, Ojibway beadwork in historical context: a personal story.
Multiple copies of the book are available for checkout at the Grand Marais Public Library. The book is also for sale at Drury Lane Books and other booksellers in Cook County.
For more information or a complete schedule of events, contact Library Director Steve Harsin at (218) 387-1140.
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