Land & Water: A Writing Workshop with Diane Wilson

Join us for a two-part workshop in support of the Mary Ann Key Book Club conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer. This workshop, led by novelist Diane Wilson, focuses on land, encouraging participants to write about a beloved place that has influenced their lives. Refreshments begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by the workshop at 6 p.m. The workshop is offered in a hybrid format, both in person at All My Relations Arts Gallery or online via Facebook Live. Registration required.*

Setting is often described as an element in a writer’s story, a tool that helps the reader visualize the place where their characters live. And yet, as humans, we are profoundly shaped by the land we come from, the water we live near, the plants and animals who share the earth with us, and the horizon that greets us each day. Along with discussion of select excerpts by various writers, such as Robin Wall Kimmerer, Linda Hogan, and Kimberly Blaeser, participants will explore their relationship to place through brief writing exercises, and consider how they might extend that visualization to their broader work.

Additional events in this series at All My Relations Arts Gallery:

Collaborators: All My Relations Arts; More Than a Single Story.

This program is funded with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Sponsor: Friends of the Hennepin County Library.

Diane Wilson is a Dakota writer, educator, and bog steward, enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation. She has published six award-winning books as well as essays in numerous publications. Her novel, “The Seed Keeper,” won the 2022 Minnesota Book Award and is a selection for the 2026 NEA Big Read. Her memoir, “Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past,” won a 2006 Minnesota Book Award and her nonfiction book, “Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life,” received the Barbara Sudler Award from History Colorado. Wilson has written two middle-grade biographies about Dakota language protectors and co-authored a 2022 picture book – “Where We Come From,” winner of the 2023 Carter G. Woodson Award. Wilson’s work explores seed sovereignty, social justice, cultural recovery, and environmental stewardship. She is currently working on a memoir, “Mapping My Way Home: A Story of Love, Loss, and a Bog.”