East Central Regional Library is excited to be participating in the thirteenth chapter of One Book | One Minnesota! The title for this year’s program is Where We Come From by Diane Wilson, Sun Yung Shin, Shannon Gibney, and John Coy.
This statewide book club invites all Minnesotans to read a common title and come together virtually to reflect and discuss. This is presented in partnership with State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education, the program aims to bring Minnesotans together to highlight the role of libraries as community connectors.
From now through May 5, you’re invited to read Where We Come From. Access the eBook for free through EBooks Minnesota for 8 weeks, with no wait time or limit! Start reading today!
Minnesotans of all ages are invited to participate in a statewide virtual discussion with the authors of the book on Tuesday, April 29 at 10am. Register for this free Zoom event.
Learn more about Where We Come From
In this unique collaboration, four authors lyrically explore where they each come from – literally and metaphorically – as well as what unites all of us as humans. Richly layered illustrations connect past and present, making for an accessible and visually striking look at history, family, and identity.
About the Authors
Diane Wilson is an award-winning writer, speaker, and editor. Her work includes Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past and The Seed Keeper, both of which won the Minnesota Book Award, and Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life. Her essays have been featured in many publications, including We Are Meant to Rise; Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations; and A Good Time for the Truth. Wilson is a Mdewakanton descendent, enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation.
신 선 영 Sun Yung Shin is a Korean American poet, fiction writer, nonfiction writer, editor, and educator. Her books include four collections of poetry: The Wet Hex; Unbearable Splendor, a Minnesota Book Award winner; Rough, and Savage; and Skirt Full of Black, Asian American Literary Award winner. Her poetry has been supported with fellowships and grants from the MacDowell Residency, the Archibald Bush Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. She lives in Minneapolis near Minnehaha Creek.
Shannon Gibney is a writer, educator, activist, and the author of See No Color, Dream Country, and The Girl I Am, Was, and Will Never Be, young adult novels that won Minnesota Book Awards. Gibney is faculty in English at Minneapolis College, where she teaches writing. A Bush Artist and McKnight Writing Fellow, she lives in Minneapolis with her family.
John Coy is the author of young adult novels, the 4 for 4 middle-grade series, and nonfiction and fiction picture books including Hoop Genius, Game Changer, Their Great Gift, Dads, and If We Were Gone. He has received numerous awards for his work including a Marion Vannett Ridgway Award, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor, a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year, and the Burr/Warzalla Award for Distinguished Achievement in Children’s Literature. Coy lives by the Mississippi River in Minneapolis..
About One Book | One Minnesota
One Book | One Minnesota is presented by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, as the Minnesota Center for the Book, in partnership with State Library Services and sponsored by SPIRE Credit Union. Program partners also include the Council of Regional Public Library System Administrators; Mackin VIA; Minitex; the Minnesota Department of Education; and the University of Minnesota Press. This program is made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, as well as through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Links to resources and more information can be found at thefriends.org/onebook.