Night Train and Other Ojibwe Stories: A Celebration of Writing and Sisterhood with the Erdrichs

Not since the Brontës bulled their way to prominence in nineteenth-century Duluth has the flyover cultural set seen a distaff literary dynasty—or, quite honestly, any sort of literary dynasty—the likes of the Erdrich sisters. By now everybody knows Louise (independent bookstore owner and author of the award-winning Love Medicine and all sorts of other critically acclaimed novels, children’s books, poetry, and short story collections); and everybody should know Heid, who for our money is a more consistently stunning poet than her more celebrated sister. The impetus for this family reunion, however, is the publication of Night Train, a debut collection of short stories by Lise Erdrich, the sister we confess to knowing almost nothing about. We do know, though, that she was a 2007 Bush Foundation fellow, and Sherman Alexie has said of her collection, “This book challenged, entertained, thrilled, and scared me.” No idea how often they actually get a chance to sit down together, but we’re guessing they’ll have plenty to talk about.

7 p.m.-8 p.m., Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612-630-6174.