Dominican Center Bookshelf: The Seed Keeper (Virtual)

Join Dominican Center Marywood in a virtual book discussion on The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson.

The Seed Keeper is a compelling story of the sorrow and hope of Dakota women whose courage and tenacity have much to teach us. Weaving together stories of present and past, The Seed Keeper is a beautifully told story of reawakening, remembering relationships to the seeds and, through them, to each other.

In three online interactive and reflective gatherings, we will share with each other our learnings from the messages in the book.

. . .that’s how the corporations work against us, twisting the truth till we’re at war with each other.
~ Diane Wilson
About the Book The Seed Keeper
A story of four generations of women and their connection to seeds. The Seed Keeper follows a Dakota family’s struggle to preserve their way of life, and their sacrifices to protect what matters most. Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her stories of plants, of the stars, of the origins of the Dakota people. Until, one morning, Ray doesn’t return from checking his traps. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to live with a foster family in nearby Mankato — where the reserved, bookish teenager meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they’ve inherited.

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.

Diane Wilson, author of The Seedkeeper | Dominican Center Marywood at Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, MIAbout the Author
Diane Wilson (Dakota) is the author of The Seed Keeper, as well as a memoir, Spirit Car: Journey to a Dakota Past, and a nonfiction book, Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life. She is the executive director for the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance, a national coalition of tribes and organizations working to create sovereign food systems for Native people. She is a Mdewakanton descendent, enrolled on the Rosebud Reservation, and lives in Shafer, Minnesota.

The Seeds Speak, a lyrical poem, opens the book:

We are hungry, but the sleep is upon us.
We are thirsty, but the mother has instructed us
not to waken too early.
We are restless, chafing against this thin membrane,
pushing back against the
dark that bids us to lie still, suspended in a near-death
that is not dying.
We hold time in this space, we hold a thread to
infinity that reaches to the stars …

We invite you to read the full book ahead of the first session and keep the book with you through the entire series as we will pull excerpts from the book in each session.