More Than A Single Story

EMBRACING OUR ROOTS: ROOTED AND RISING -A conversation with Mary Moore Easter and Leslie Parker
2026-02-28 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | Elmer L. Andersen Library, 222 21st Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, United States
Embracing Our Roots consists of conversations where young arts leaders will join our elders in conversation about their histories of significant milestones in Minnesota’s history within their community. The series is a collaboration between More Than a Single Story, The Givens Collection of Literature and Life, and In Black Ink to highlight conversations between Black artists across generations.
Don’t forget to register here
Panelist Bios
Mary Moore Easter, author of five poetry collections and a memoir, continues to comment on her world, inner and outer. Her most recent collection, Dancing on the Precipice, a good description of not falling over the edge, chronicles healing to dance, travel, family, politics and new love following core-opening surgery at 85. Honors: Cave Canem Fellow; recipient of book and dance awards; Carleton College’s Mary Easter Dance Studio in honor of her legacy in that place. Poetry Memberships ongoing: Penchant, Twin Cities Black Women Writing and others.
Leslie Parker was born in the traditional homeland of Dakhóta and Ojibwe and raised in the Rondo neighborhood which led her to refining her dance practice in her second art home base of the Lenape people (aka Brooklyn, NY). Parker, a dance artist, educator, performer, improviser, organizer, choreographer, and director is a 2017 Bessie award recipient, a Jerome Hill Artist
Fellow 2019-2021, 2022 Mcknight Choreographer Fellow and 2024-2026 Jerome@Camargo artist-in-residence in Cassis, France. She holds a MFA from Hollins University in partnership with Dresden Frankfurt Company and Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt, Germany. She lectured, choreographed, improvised, and taught dance at Spelman College, Florida State
University, TU Dance Center, University of Michigan, Sarah Lawrence College, University of Minnesota, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Keshet Dance School and Performing Arts, Carleton College, Point Park University, Temple University, and Hollins University. Parker has worked and studied with local, national and international choreographers globally.

EMBRACING OUR ROOTS: ROOTED AND RISING -A conversation with Carolyn Holbrook and Arleta Little
2026-04-04 13:00 - 15:00 | Elmer L. Andersen Library, 222 21st Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, United States
This event has been rescheduled to April 4th

Join beloved artists and culture bearers, Carolyn Holbrook and Arleta Little in a wide ranging conversation as they reflect on the paths that led them to where they are today in their lives and careers; paths that have often been lit by unseen and unexpected sources. Embracing our Roots: Rooted and Rising pairs Black artists and arts activist Elders with next-generation arts leaders in conversation, mining the continuum of cultural knowledge and experience that built today’s arts community. It is a partnership between More Than a Single Story, The Givens Collection of African American Literature and Life, and the In Black Ink publishing arts initiative.
Embracing Our Roots consists of conversations where young arts leaders will join our elders in conversation about their histories of significant milestones in Minnesota’s history within their community. The series is a collaboration between More Than a Single Story, The Givens Collection of Literature and Life, and In Black Ink to highlight conversations between Black artists across generations.
Don’t forget to register here
Panelist Bios:
Carolyn Holbrook is founder and director or More Than a Single Story. Her memoir, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify, won the 2021 Minnesota Book Award in memoir/creative nonfiction. She is co-editor with David Mura of the anthology, We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World (UMN Press) and is co-author with Dr. Josie Johnson and Arleta Little of Hope in the Struggle (UMN Press). Her essays have been published in anthologies including A Good Time For the Truth and Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota. Her 2022 TEDx talk, The Life you Live is the Legacy You will Leave, was presented at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. Her awards include the Minnesota Book Awards Kay Sexton Award, 2010; Hamline University Exemplary Teacher, 2014; 50 over 50, 2017; Celebrate the Sistahs, 2020; and Flowers Now!, 2024. She is the 2025 McKnight Distinguished Artist.
Arleta Little is a poet, writer, and culture worker who has made good trouble for nearly 30 years in nonprofit organizations and philanthropy in Minnesota. Arleta’s latest book of poetry, Black Swallowtail, pairs her poetry with paintings by visual artist Ta-coumba T. Aiken. Her poems and essays have appeared in multiple journals and publications including We Are Meant to Rise:
Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World (UMN Press), Blues Vision: African American Writing From Minnesota (MNHS Press), Water-Stone Review, Calyx, and more. She is a co- author along with Josie Johnson and Carolyn Holbrook of Hope in the Struggle: A Memoir (UMN Press). Arleta was the first Executive Director of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature and co-founder of the influential Givens Black Writers Retreat program. She currently serves as the Executive & Artistic Director for the Loft in Minneapolis, serving literary creatives, culture bearers, and changemakers.

LAND & WATER: A WRITER’S RELATIONSHIP WITH PLACE May 5th Writing Workshop with Halee Kirkwood
2026-04-21 08:00 - 17:00
Join us for a two-part workshop in support of the Mary Ann Key Book Club conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer. Today’s workshop, led by poet Halee Kirkwood, focuses on water, encouraging participants to write about a waterway that nourishes them. 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.
Please register by clicking here
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.
Halee Kirkwood’s debut poetry collection, “To Think of a Match,” is forthcoming with Curbstone Press in spring 2027. Kirkwood is a 2023-2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, an inaugural and returning Indigenous Nations Poets fellow, and a 2019 Loft Mentor Series fellow. They are a direct descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.

LAND & WATER: A WRITER’S RELATIONSHIP WITH PLACE May 5th Writing Workshop with Diane Wilson
2026-05-05 17:30 - 19:30 | All My Relations Gallery, 1414 E Franklin ave #1, Minneapolis, MN, 55404, United States
Join us for a two-part workshop in support of the Mary Ann Key Book Club conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer. Today’s 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.
Please register by clicking here
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.
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.”

Writer to writer with Payal Doshi and Nicole D. Collier
2026-05-07 18:30 - 20:00
This is an online event please Register Here
Panelist Bios:
Payal Doshi is the author of Rea and the Blood of the Nectar, a middle grade fantasy novel and recipient of the IPPY Gold Award. Her young adult short story, “A Confluence of Fates” can be found in the YA anthology, My Big, Fat, Desi Wedding. Her forthcoming four-book series of chapter books, Magic Gems, published by Scholastic Inc. will be available in 2026. Payal has an MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from The New School, New York. Born and raised in Mumbai, India, she currently lives with her family in Minnesota. When she isn’t writing stories that celebrate her South Asian heritage, you can find her nose deep in a book with a cup of coffee or daydreaming of fantasy realms to send her characters into. For more information, visit her website, www.payaldoshiauthor.com, or follow her on Instagram @payaldoshiauthor.
Nicole D. Collier writes warm-hearted stories about learning to be true to yourself. Her books have been nominated for state book awards, earned starred reviews, and been named on ‘best of’ lists. A former elementary school teacher, Nicole champions literacy, critical thinking, imagination and compassion as essential 21st century skills. Born and raised in Atlanta, she is currently based in sunny St. Petersburg, Florida where she is daydreaming about her next project.
