On Tuesday, July 25, the Cheyenne River Youth Project will welcome Diane Wilson, an award-winning Mdewakanton Dakota writer and educator who also is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, to its Čhokáta Wičhóni (Center of Life) teen center for a presentation and book-signing event. She will be appearing from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., and the event is free and open to the public.
Wilson will be discussing and signing copies of her 2021 novel The Seed Keeper, which received the 2022 Minnesota Book Award for Fiction. The novel follows several generations of a Dakota family as they struggle to preserve their way of life and make sacrifices to protect what matters most.
“Weaving together the voices of four indelible women, The Seed Keeper is a beautifully told story of reawakening, of remembering our original relationship to the seeds and, through them, to our ancestors,” according to Wilson’s website.”
“Diane is a longtime friend and colleague, and I loved her book,” said Julie Garreau, CRYP’s executive director. “We are delighted that CRYP is part of the South Dakota Humanities Council’s 2023 One Book South Dakota Author Tour, and it will be our honor to host her here in Eagle Butte.”
Wilson also wrote a memoir, Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past, which won a 2006 Minnesota Book Award and was selected for the 2012 One Minneapolis One Read program. Her 2011 nonfiction book, Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life, was awarded the 2012 Barbara Sudler Award from History Colorado; and her middle-grade biography, Ella Cara Deloria: Dakota Language Protector, was an Honor selection for the 2022 American Indian Youth Literature Award. Her essays have appeared in a variety of anthologies.
Wilson is the former executive director for Dream of Wild Health, an indigenous nonprofit farm, and the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, a national coalition of tribes and organizations working to create sovereign food systems for Native people. She has received a 2013 Bush Foundation Fellowship as well as awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Jerome Foundation, and she won a 50 Over 50 Award from Pollen/Midwest.
In addition to discussing The Seed Keeper and signing books in communities across South Dakota this summer, Wilson also will be appearing at the Festival of Books in Deadwood on Sept. 22-24.
And to learn more about the Cheyenne River Youth Project and its programs, and for information about making donations and volunteering, call (605) 964-8200 or visit www.lakotayouth.org. And, to stay up to date on the latest CRYP news and events, follow the youth project on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
The Cheyenne River Youth Project, founded in 1988, is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing the youth of the Cheyenne River reservation with access to a vibrant and secure future through a wide variety of culturally sensitive and enduring programs, projects and facilities that ensure strong, self-sufficient families and communities.