Friends Forum: A Series for Curious Minds University of Minnesota Libraries

Lacie McMillin and Lisa Von Drasek discuss the Sonali Dev “Raje Series” on this installment of Read This Book! The Rajes are an immigrant Indian family descended from royalty, who have built their lives in San Francisco. McMillin is a Undergraduate Services Specialist with the University of Minnesota Libraries. Von Drasek is curator of the University of Minnesota's Children's Literature Research Collection, home to the Kerlan Collection.

Poet Freya Manfred read from her latest book, “When I was Young and Old” during a June 15, 2023 event at the University of Minnesota's Elmer L. Andersen Library.

The 14th Annual Pankake Poetry reading, named for librarian Marcia Pankake, took place on April 4, 2023. Poet and cultural worker Sun Yung Shin read from her latest book of poetry, “The Wet Hex,” a finalist for the 2023 Minnesota Book Award for poetry. She described it as a book “about what our ancestors are asking of us.” Our audience, both in person and online, listened with rapt attention as she read.

A Feast of Words speaker Mike Dockry reminded the Friends of the Libraries group that all lands in the United States were formerly native lands.

Mary Moore Easter offered a captivating presentation on Dec. 6. With her co-presenters — Joan Hepburn, a retired Professor of English, with a concentration of West African theater, from St. Olaf College, and Siddeeqah Shabazz, actor at Pillsbury House Theater and the Guthrie Theater, as well as Executive Director of Kulture Klub Collaborative — Easter quoted from Winston’s brief court testimony, along with her own poems, to recreate the life of a woman who escaped to freedom in Minnesota.

David Mura was the featured poet at the 13th Annual Pankake Poetry on April 7, 2022 at the University of Minnesota's Elmer L. Andersen Library. reading featuring Mura has written four books of poetry, has won numerous awards for his writing, and has taught at several colleges and universities, including the University of Minnesota. Following the reading, poet Ed Bok Lee and Mura engaged in conversation.