Ka Vang is a poet, spoken word artist, playwright, and community activist. We are pleased to release her provocative essay The Good Hmong Girl Eats Raw Laab, available as an e-book short for just 99 cents. The e-short is one of our new MHS Express titles.

The piece examines the social and cultural implications of “a good Hmong girl” by addressing these issues: “What does it mean to be a good Hmong girl? Who defines the good Hmong girl? Who practices it and enforces the rules? What are the rewards and consequences for the Hmong girl and her family if she is not a good Hmong girl? Would Hmong culture be diminished if there were no more good Hmong girls left?”

Ka has been busy! She was recently featured on MNOriginal, Twin Cities Public Television’s award-winning weekly arts series celebrating Minnesota’s creative community, and her new book, Shoua and the Northern Lights Dragon, produced with the Minnesota Humanities Council and the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, is now available.

Explore the dark side of Minnesota history with three veteran writers who have unearthed incredible stories of murder and mayhem. The event is Wednesday evening at Dayton Avenue Presbyterian Church in St. Paul.

It’s a Crime: An Evening of Minnesota Crime Hosted By Stan Turner

Larry Millett, William Swanson, and Joe Kimball discuss their books about infamous crimes in Minnesota.

Wednesday February 27 at 7:00 p.m.
Dayton Avenue Presbyterian Church
217 Mackubin Street, St. Paul, MN
Hosted by SubText: A Bookstore

Larry Millett is the author of Murder Has a Public Face and Strange Days, Dangerous Nights, among other titles.

William Swanson is the author of Black White Blue and Dial M.

Joe Kimball is the author of many books, including Secrets of the Congdon Mansion.

Can’t get enough local true crime? Check out our forthcoming books The Rockwell Heist by Bruce Rubenstein and Augie’s Secrets by Neal Karlen for more on Minnesota’s seamy underside!

We are pleased to announce that Mark Anthony Rolo’s My Mother Is Now Earth is a finalist for both a Minnesota Book Award and a Northeastern Minnesota Book Award.

The book depicts the story of the last three years of his mother’s life from the perspective of his child self. With an innocent and sometimes brutal child’s view, Rolo recounts stories of a woman who battles poverty, depression, her abusive husband, and isolation through the long northern Minnesota winters, and of himself, her son, who struggles at school, wrestles with his Ojibwe identity, and copes with violence. But he also shows, with eloquence and compassion, his adult understanding of his mother’s fight to live with dignity, not despair.

Rolo will be speaking tonight at Southwest State University in Marshall, Minnesota, as part of the Visiting Writers Series at SWSU. The event is at 7:00 p.m. in Charter Hall 201 and is free and open to the public.

by Debbie Miller, MHS Reference Specialist

The MHS’s Gale Family Library welcomes researchers with new and expanded hours, which became effective December 1, 2012.

–Tuesday, 12 noon to 8 p.m.

–Wednesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

–Closed Sunday and Monday

Scholars and other authors now have a chance to work all day on a project, and those visiting from out of town can plan a trip that uses their limited time more efficiently.

Remember that the library houses all levels of government records for Minnesota, as well as vast collections of manuscripts, newspapers, periodicals, and books.  Maps, photos, films and videos, oral histories, and music are all available. Reference staff are happy to help with any questions you have about your research and to suggest related sources, if you like.  More and more manuscript and archives collections have finding aids online.  Try this site, or when you find a collection that interests you in the library catalog, check to see if there’s a link to a finding aid.

The United States officially recognized the government of Somalia on January 17. In a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and new Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the secretary called for a new chapter to begin. The people of Somalia, a country ravaged by civil war and once considered the most failed state on the globe, have “fought, and sacrificed to bring greater stability, security, and peace to their nation.”

The African Development Center of Minnesota is hosting public and community forums with Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, former prime minster of Somalia, who will share stories about developing a road map to Somalia’s future.  On Friday, February 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Cowles Auditorium, Dr. Ali will offer remarks and facilitate an open discussion in English. On Saturday, February 9, from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Minneapolis Convention Center, Dr. Ali’s remarks and the ensuing discussion will be in Somali.  Join in this celebration of nation building in our time.