“ Minnesota, let’s read together!”
One Book, One Minnesota is the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library’s statewide program that encourages Minnesotans of all ages to come together for a virtual book club. This summer, you are invited to read the featured book selection and will have access to author videos, virtual book club discussions, and a statewide virtual discussion with the author in August.
The featured book for Summer 2020 is A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota, edited by Sun Yung Shin (Minnesota Historical Society Press).
“In this provocative book, sixteen of Minnesota’s best writers provide a range of perspectives on what it is like to live as a Native person or a person of color in Minnesota. With unflinching generosity, these authors take readers into their lives, sharing experiences that we all must understand if we are to come together in real relationships.
Minnesota communities struggle with some of the nation’s worst racial disparities. As its authors confront and consider the realities that lie beneath the numbers, this book provides an important tool to those who want to be part of closing those gaps.
As the book’s editor, Sun Yung Shin, writes in the introduction: “These essays…are intended to enlarge our understanding of, and deepen our connections to, one another. These writers are here to feed our spirits, if we let them. As readers and listeners we have an important job to do, a powerful and empowering attitude to assume: “Tell me the truth of the matter. When I don’t understand, I will not protest or judge or correct, I will simply listen harder. I am here to recognize you as my fellow human being with a story.” We can read their stories and leave each one with a deeper, more complex understanding of how race and culture are lived in Minnesota – and better prepared for the conversations and changes ahead.””
A Good Time for the Truth will be available on multiple platforms. Readers can access the book through the SELCO Catalog or digitally through eBooks Minnesota.
For more information, see the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library website.
