Next month, the annual NEA Big Read in the St. Croix Valley will offer literary events and programs connected to Diane Wilson‘s book “The Seed Keeper.” Diane is a writer, educator, and bog steward who lives near the St. Croix River. Her novel is the story of “women who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss.” It won the Minnesota Book Award for fiction in 2022.

Wilson is the former director of Dream of Wild Health, an Indigenous non-profit farm, and the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance. A Mdewakanton Dakota descendant, Wilson is enrolled on the Sicangu Oyate (Rosebud) reservation in South Dakota.

“Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ – We Are All Related – this is how Diane Wilson, like many Dakota, opens conversation voicing the important value of reciprocity. We are honored to be co-creating NEA Big Read in the St. Croix Valley with Diane and Franconia Sculpture Park. In April 2026, ArtReach and our regional library partners will connect people to the magic of place through multi-disciplinary programs around Wilson’s novel The Seed Keeper – a river story. As it says in the book, ‘The river was the pulse of our people, flowing through generations.’ As a resident of Scandia, Diane Wilson believes this Big Read will be, ‘the one with heart,’ as it connects to her home community.”

Events:

There will be events including book discussions, a traveling art exhibit, writing workshops, presentations, and more throughout the month. (See all.)

There will also be a special exhibit on display at ArtReach’s gallery in Stillwater, which will include several maps of the St. Croix River watershed created by St. Croix 360 founder Greg Seitz in connection with his upcoming book.

Deep Mapping

Explore the places and stories of the St. Croix River basin with multiple maps by St. Croix 360 founder and writer Greg Seitz. This exhibition and the work for his upcoming book (UMN Press, 2028) will look past the usual tropes of lumberjacks and settlers to the diverse peoples, ecosystems and communities that have created the watershed as we know it today. A Dakota language map by Marlena Myles showing Minneapolis (Village of Many Lakes) & St. Paul (Village along the White Cliffs) will also be featured.

Valley Pottery: 2,000 Years

The St. Croix valley is famous for its vibrant community of ceramic artists, but did you know that pottery traditions in the St Croix valley go back over 2,000 years? Ed Fleming, archaeologist with the Science Museum of Minnesota, has been studying these ancient traditions and how pottery styles demonstrate trade and movement along the rivers of the Midwest. “The St. Croix is this great north-south corridor that crosses biomes,” Fleming says. “It connects the north woods to the prairies.” Potters working here today created pieces inspired by the forms, decorations and stories they learned about during a recent visit to the Science Museum in St. Paul.

The Big Read is organized by ArtReach St. Croix and Franconia Sculpture Park with local libraries and other organizations. It is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.