Upcoming Events

Birchbark Bizhiw
1629 Hennepin Avenue #275
Minneapolis, MN 55403
(entrance map)

Join us as we celebrate the publication of Glassful of Prayer, the debut poetry collection from our longtime bookseller, Anthony Ceballos! He will be joined in conversation by Kimberly Blaeser, director of Indigenous Nations Poets and former Wisconsin Poet Laureate.

All copies of Glassful of Prayer purchased from Birchbark Books will be signed by the author! Order yours here.

A stunning debut collection, Anthony Ceballos' Glassful of Prayer, wrestles with questions of identity against the backdrop of loss, heritage, family ties, addiction, nature, and urban Minneapolis. Ceballos relentlessly delves into the experience of claiming and defining a self with vivid imagery of reflections and nature, and through dreamed or imagined dialogue with an alcoholic father he never knew: "I am not/my father's boy, I am not/his body, I am not nobody.." In another poem, his grandmother's spirit asks, "Who? Who do you want to be?" Ceballos connects these themes of negative and positive identity through a single thread prevalent throughout the collection, authenticity, leading us through a landscape of darkness and ash to a place of self-acceptance and love.

“It is rare to open a book that makes you feel more alive. Anthony Ceballos uses language with passion and precision to conjure a world marked by tenderness. In his quest to resolve our common sorrows, and his own, Ceballos resists the temptations of oblivion with a fierce insistence on clarity and love.”
- Louise Erdrich

Birchbark Bizhiw
1629 Hennepin Avenue #275
Minneapolis, MN 55403
(entrance map)

Join us as we welcome author Tayari Jones to Birchbark Bizhiw! Tayari will be joined in conversation by Louise Erdrich.

Kin is the magnificent new novel from bestselling, award-winning author of An American Marriage—Tayari Jones has written an unforgettable novel that sparkles with wit and intelligence and deep feeling about two lifelong friends whose worlds converge after many years apart in the face of a devastating tragedy.

“Kin is the kind of all-encompassing reading experience I’m always hoping to find: smart and funny and deftly profound. This is Tayari Jones’s very best work.” —Ann Patchett

A novel about mothers and daughters, friendship and sisterhood, and the complexities of being a woman in the American South, Kin is an exuberant, emotionally rich, unforgettable work from one of the brightest and most irresistible voices in contemporary fiction.

Birchbark Bizhiw
1629 Hennepin Avenue #275
Minneapolis, MN 55403
(entrance map)

Please join Birchbark Books as we celebrate Julian Brave NoiseCat's debut book, We Survived the Night. A stunning narrative from one of the most powerful young writers at work today, We Survived the Night interweaves oral history with hard-hitting journalism and a deeply personal father-son journey into a searing portrait of Indigenous survival, love, and resurgence. Julian Brave NoiseCat is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, champion powwow dancer, and student of Salish art and history.

He will be in conversation with Allison Waukau, cohost of the podcast Books are Good Medicine, Tribal Liaison and Native Relations Coordinator for the Metropolitan Council, and most importantly, a dear friend of Birchbark Books!

This event is FREE and open to the public!

We Survived the Night is now available to preorder and will also be available for purchase at the event.

“Written in gorgeous, sparse prose, We Survived the Night reads like a novel. Told with a blistering honesty, the truth and grit create a beautifully woven coyote story we haven’t heard before. This is a love letter to Oakland, to the Canim Lake Band Tsq’secen of the Secwepemc Nation, to a father from his son, to the act of being a Native person in the twenty first century finding ways to love even through all that wounds have opened and wrought. With this, Julian Brave NoiseCat has written a book I’ve been waiting my whole life to read.” —Tommy Orange

Birchbark Bizhiw
1629 Hennepin Avenue #275
Minneapolis, MN 55403
(entrance map)

Join us or a special evening with acclaimed and beloved Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer, musician and artist Leanne Betasamosake Simpson as she disscusses her most recent book, Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead.

A genre-bending exploration of that most elemental force—water—through Indigenous storytelling, personal memory, and the work of influential artists and writers.

Theory of Water is a resonant exploration of an intricate, multi-layered relationship with the most abundant element on our planet—one that, as Simpson eloquently shows, is shaping our present even as it demands a radical rethinking of how we might achieve a just future.

Birchbark Bizhiw
1629 Hennepin Avenue #275
Minneapolis, MN 55403
(entrance map)

Please join us for this lovely event with beloved author and illustrator Maybell Eequay as we celebrate her newest book, The Little Frog's Guide to Life.

The two attendees that wear our favorite pair of boots will have a chance to win a swag bag full of Little Frog merch - so if you have a pair in your closet that you only wear on occasion or you bought a pair inspired by Little Frog's beautiful boots, this is the event to wear them to!

Copies of Maybell's first book, The Little Frog's Guide to Self-Care, as well as other Little Frog treats, will be available before and after event.

The little frog is back! Brimming with beautiful affirmations to live by and essential pearls of wisdom, the internet's most adorable amphibian returns to help you move through your days with self-love and kindness. Whether you're looking for hope, motivation or encouragement, let the little frog inspire you to embrace life - with all its ups and downs - and fill your world with the people and things that bring you joy. With gentle humor and pureness of spirit, this beautiful book is here to warm your heart and support you when you need it most.

Maybell Eequay is an artist who works in many different media. Born and raised in the breathtaking St. Croix River Valley, Maybell draws inspiration from her own childhood as well as her love of vintage children’s books and knickknacks. Growing up in a creative household as the daughter of two artists, Maybell has been making art since she was old enough to hold a pen. Today, she enjoys making art that has a vaguely nostalgic feel paired with tender messages and light humor.

Minneapolis Central Library
Pohlad Hall, 2nd Floor
300 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Please join Birchbark Books and Native Arts alongside Hennepin County Library for this special event!

Angeline Boulley, author of New York Times bestselling YA novels Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed, will discuss her brand new novel, Sisters in the Wind, with Ari Tison, winner of the Pura Belpré Award and Walter Dean Myers Award for Young Adult Literature for Saints of the Household.

FREE and open to the public! Books will be available for purchase before and after event.

Sisters in the Wind is a daring new mystery about a foster teen claiming her heritage on her own terms.

Ever since Lucy Smith’s father died five years ago, “home” has been more of an idea than a place. She knows being on the run is better than anything waiting for her as a “ward of the state”. But when the sharp-eyed and kind Mr. Jameson with an interest in her case comes looking for her, Lucy wonders if hiding from her past will ever truly keep her safe. Five years in the foster system has taught her to be cautious and smart. But she wants to believe Mr. Jameson and his “friend-not-friend”, a tall and fierce-looking woman who say they want to look after her. They also tell Lucy the truth her father hid from her: She is Ojibwe; she has – had – a sister, and more siblings; a grandmother who’d look after her and a home where she would be loved. But Lucy is being followed. The past has destroyed any chance of normal she has had, and now the secrets she’s hiding will swallow her whole and take away the future she always dreamed of.