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December 15, 2025
Our next exciting author event will take place at Minneapolis Central Library on Wednesday, May 13, at 6:30pm. Stay tuned for the announcement of our next title on February 7.
See a list of our past titles.
In the meantime, the Mary Ann Key Book Club newsletter will continue to highlight books recommended by Myron Medcalf.
(YouTube, Duration - 02:59)
Hanif Abdurraqib is an acclaimed poet, essayist, and music critic from Columbus, Ohio. His book publications include two full length poetry collections, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much and A Fortune For Your Disaster, which won the 2020 Lenore Marshall Prize; a collection of essays, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us; and two nonfiction titles, Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest and A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, the latter of which won the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction.
Abdurraqib received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant in 2021. In September 2024, he read to a packed Pohlad Hall at Minneapolis Central Library through a program that was developed in collaboration with Birchbark Books.
December is Universal Human Rights Month. Consider getting involved with the Advocates for Human Rights here in Minneapolis.
Featured Author: Hanif Abdurraqib
Kashimana Ahua Artist Residency: Open Mic and EP Release
Tuesday, December 16, 4:30-6:30pm
Minneapolis Central Library
Celebrate your talents at an open mic hosted by Kashimana Ahua. Music, poetry, rap, and more are all welcome! Ahua will also debut an EP of songs created in collaboration with Minneapolis Central Library patrons during her residency as a composer and songwriter this fall.
Sankofa D.E.A.R. Time with Rose McGee
Sunday, January 11, 3-4pm
Sumner Library
Join us for a Sankofa D.E.A.R. Time program, where we meet a different local Black author each month who will read from their book and share their creative writing experience to affirm, nurture, and empower young readers. This month, special guest author Rose McGee will read her book, Can’t Nobody Make a Sweet Potato Pie Like Our Mama!
Followed by an interactive activity or craft.
Stories and Crafts with the Museum of Russian Art
Friday, January 23, 10-11am
Washburn Library
PreK-grade 3. Join us to listen to a read-aloud story related to art and culture of the Russian region and then create an art project to take home. This month, we will enter the strange and magical world of Russian folktales to read The Flying Witch, written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Vladimir Vagin.
If you have suggestions for future book selections for the Mary Ann Key Book Club, please send them to us! Suggestions should align with the goals of the book club and center Black, Indigenous, People of Color, or marginalized communities, and be published in 2025 or scheduled for 2026.
About the Mary Ann Key Book Club
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.
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