“Kestrel Reads” Book Discussion – The Seed Keeper: A Novel

Looking for your next good read? Join us for **Kestrel** **Reads**, a quarterly discussion group to help you delve deeper into books about nature, environmental issues, and people’s relationship to the land.

For our **Winter fiction** selection, we’ll read and discuss ***The Seed Keeper*** *(2021).* This winner of the Minnesota Book Award interweaves the stories of modern Dakhóta women and their ancestors in Minnesota as they struggle to preserve their way of life and protect what matters most.  **Weaving together the voices of four indelible women, Diane Wilson’s debut novel is a beautifully told story of reawakening, of remembering our original relationship to the seeds and, through them, to our ancestors.** Rather than descend into hopelessness, it maintains a thread of cultivation and harvest, of nature and the importance of living in harmony with earth’s rhythm, throughout.

“*Everywhere I looked, I saw how seeds were holding the world together. They planted forests, covered meadows with wildflowers, sprouted in the cracks of sidewalks, or lay dormant until the long-awaited moment came, signaled by fire or rain or warmth. They filled the produce aisle in grocery stores. Seeds breathed and spoke in a language all their own. Each one was a miniature time capsule, capturing years of stories in its tender flesh. How ignorant I felt compared to the brilliance contained in a single seed.*” – Diane Wilson

Like so many of the arts, the written word has the power to inform but also to reach the heart. Book clubs expand on this experience by providing a common, respectful, creative space to listen and be heard, as well as to amiably disagree. Book lovers who share and explore ideas with each other become better readers, writers, and collaborators. Unpacking a good book deepens and enriches the story or content, giving you insights you’ll carry into the next read, creative endeavor, or conversation.

***We encourage both new and past participants to join us! Registration required for each quarterly discussion group. Limited to 15 participants.***