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.
Join the Mary Ann Key Book Club for an exclusive evening with the author of our 2026 book selection at Minneapolis Central Library on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, from 6:30-8:30pm. Learn more about the author event.
While you wait, check out additional titles related to last year’s selection:
If you like "The Stars and the Blackness Between Them" - Books for teens
If you like "The Stars and the Blackness Between Them" - Books for adults
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.
Subscribe to the Mary Ann Key Book Club newsletter
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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.
