A collaboration with columnist Myron Medcalf, the Mary Ann Key Book Club uses reading as a catalyst for intercultural conversations around understanding and addressing past and current injustices that impact Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
Welcome to the 2026 season of the Mary Ann Book Club! We are excited to announce that the selection for our 2026 season is The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.
Author Event
Wednesday, May 13, 6:30pm
Minneapolis Central Library
Register to attend in person or via livestream
Join the Mary Ann Key Book Club for an exclusive evening at Pohlad Hall featuring Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry. The author will be joined in conversation by Star Tribune columnist and book club partner Myron Medcalf. This event will be recorded and available for 7 days following the conversation.
Also consider joining one of the watch events during the author talk or participating in a book club discussion for this year’s selection at local libraries between February and May. Explore the list of events at local libraries, which will be updated throughout February.
Replay past Mary Ann Key Book Club programs on Hennepin County Library's YouTube channel.
Get email updates with book club information, including discussion questions, events, and messages from Mr. Medcalf and others.
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The book club was inspired by a Star Tribune column written by Myron Medcalf – the great-great-great-grandson of Mary Ann Key.
“I’m honored to partner with Hennepin County Library to launch the Mary Ann Key Book Club, named after the matriarch of my family, who was enslaved in Georgia in the 1850s. Purchased for $1,000 at the age of 14, Mary Ann Key persevered. Her body was in bondage, but slavery never stole the freedom of her heart, mind and soul. This book club is about focusing on the truths of the past, our challenges in the present and the possibilities of the future…” – Myron Medcalf
This program is supported by Friends of the Hennepin County Library. Their generous financial support is helping to provide greater access to print and eBook copies of the featured books. Media partner: Star Tribune.