Monthly gatherings with youth and young adults for discussions and hand-on activities in accordance with the 13 moons the Dakotapi (Dakota People) follow.

Directions: Follow the flags at the corner of 117th St and 457th Ave North Sisseton

Scholar: Dennis Gill, Sr.

Sponsored By: Nis’to, Inc.

For more information, contact: Dustina Gill <sitowiyan@hotmail.com>

Jeremy Norton, a 24-year veteran firefighter/EMT with the Minneapolis Fire Department, former high school teacher, and 2024 Festival of Books presenter, joins SDHC Scholar Lawrence Diggs for a conversation about his experiences as a first responder.

Scholar: Lawrence Diggs with Jeremy Norton

Link to the event:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85001125966?pwd=c1B3NnhQK1AzUVhBQVFTcE1QTVdGUT09

Sponsored By: South Dakota Humanities Council

Please let us know what you thought of the program!
https://sdhumanities.wufoo.com/forms/r10zvgvg124kfm2/

2024 One Book South Dakota

A book discussion of Little and Often: A Memoir by Trent Preszler

Scholar: Brad Tennant

Sponsored by: Edith B. Siegrist Vermillion Public Library

For more information, contact:Kaia Brose <kaia.brose@vermillionpubliclibrary.org>

Note: The lobby will open at 8:30 am and doors will open at 8:45 am with the event beginning at 9:00 am.

After a blind review process of local play submissions following their annual community-based Playwriting course, the Premiere Playhouse enters its second phase of new play development events in their 22nd season, featuring the four semi-finalists that were selected and invited to produce concert readings in front of a panel of scholarly adjudicators. The writers will receive practical guidance and positive critiques on further developing their work, in addition to participating in a structured, open dialogue about their play. From these reading presentations, two finalist plays will be chosen for full production treatment and further play development opportunities in the Playhouse’s 3rd annual production of The Premiere Premieres which will run February 13-16, 2025 at the historic Orpheum Theater in downtown Sioux Falls.

Scholars: Dr. Jayna Gearhart Fitzsimmons, Dr. Richard W. Swanson, Luke Tatge, and Oliver Mayes, MFA

Sponsored by: Sioux Empire Community Theatre (The Premiere Playhouse)

For more information, contact: Oliver Mayes <oliver@thepremiereplayhouse.com>

Using a storytelling format, Phyllis transports audiences back in time to the influences of small town and rural life that are fast disappearing. She shares from a child’s perspective when life was simpler, telephones had a special place on a wall or desk, all older people were called grandma and grandpa, and children created their own fun.

Scholar: Phyllis Schrag

Sponsored by:Union Creek Lutheran Church

For more information, contact: Sherri McKee <sherri.l.mckee@gmail.com>

2024 One Book South Dakota

A book discussion of Little and Often: A Memoir by Trent Preszler

Scholar: Molly Barari

Sponsored by: Custer County Library

For more information, contact: Sarah Myers <smyers@custercountysd.com>

Note: This event takes place at 6:00 pm Mountain Time.

Valentine McGillycuddy was not only a surgeon, but he was also one of Rapid City’s first mayors, South Dakota’s first Surgeon General, and Dean at the South Dakota School of Mines. This event will feature Candy Moulton, speaking about McGillycuddy and her book Valentine McGillycuddy, Army Surgeon, Agent to the Sioux.

Scholar: Candy Moulton

Sponsored by: Historic Rapid City

For more information, contact: Darla Drew Lerdal <ddrewlerdal@gmail.com>

Note: This event takes place at 5:00 pm Mountain Time.


This event is part of the Stories of Resilience project, which features stories from people who have faced challenges related to mental health or suicide and found help, hope and healing.

Learn more at:https://30stories.resilienttoday.org/

Scholar: Heidi Marttila-Losure

Sponsored by: Lost&Found

For more information, contact: Erik Muckey <emuckey@resilienttoday.org>

A woman of refinement/education, Annie Tallent along with her husband D.G. and their nine-year-old son Robert, joined the Gordon party on a long and grueling journey of deep snow, bitter cold and constant fear of attacking Native Americans enroute to the Black Hills. She first entered Dakota Territory illegally, but represents the heroism/resourcefulness of pioneer women, especially in the annals of early educational history. (Chautauqua)

Scholar: Lillian Witt

Sponsored by: Meade County Senior Citizen Center

For more information, contact:Noreen Suniga <mcseniorcitizens@gmail.com>

Note: This event takes place at 3:00 pm Mountain Time.


This event is part of the Stories of Resilience project, which features stories from people who have faced challenges related to mental health or suicide and found help, hope and healing.

Learn more at:https://30stories.resilienttoday.org/

Scholar: Heidi Marttila-Losure

Sponsored by: Lost&Found

For more information, contact: Erik Muckey <emuckey@resilienttoday.org>

Note: This event takes place at 5:00 pm Mountain Time.


This event is part of the Stories of Resilience project, which features stories from people who have faced challenges related to mental health or suicide and found help, hope and healing.

Learn more at:https://30stories.resilienttoday.org/

Scholar: Heidi Marttila-Losure

Sponsored by: Lost&Found

For more information, contact: Erik Muckey <emuckey@resilienttoday.org>

2024 One Book South Dakota

A book discussion of Little and Often: A Memoir by Trent Preszler

Scholar: Molly Barari

Sponsored by: Sturgis Area Arts Council

For more information, contact:Dorothy Pulscher <dapulscher@gmail.com>

Note: This event takes place at 12:00 noon Mountain Time.

On the night of Wednesday, December 12, 1945, a man robs a liquor store in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Desperate for cash the robber unintentionally shoots and kills the store clerk and sets in motion a series of events that will lead to the murder of two lawmen outside the city of Spearfish.

At this week’s Bellman Brown Bag Lecture, the members of Basement Revolution Films, a collaboration of three storytellers will present a synopsis of their work in progress Sitts: In the Chair. A narrative feature film closely based on the 1946 murders of DCI Agent Tom Matthews and Butte County Sheriff Dave Malcolm by George Sitts and the subsequent manhunt, capture, trial, and execution of Sitts. The film is a dark comedy and true-crime drama that explores a historic, but underexplored event in South Dakota history.

Scholars: Dr. Justin Bergh, Professor Skott Chandler, and Professor Allen Morris.

For more information, contact: Allen Morris <Allen.Morris@bhsu.edu>

2024 One Book South Dakota

A book discussion of Little and Often: A Memoir by Trent Preszler

Scholar: Lawrence Diggs

Sponsored by: Watertown Regional Library

For more information, contact: Laura Hinman <lhinman@watertownsd.us>

Garrett Bucks, 2024 Festival of Books presenter, is the founder of the Barnraisers Project, which has trained nearly 1,000 participants to organize majority-white communities for racial and social justice. He joins SDHC Scholar Lawrence Diggs for a conversation about his first book, The Right Kind of White.

Scholar: Lawrence Diggs with Garrett Bucks

Link:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85001125966?pwd=c1B3NnhQK1AzUVhBQVFTcE1QTVdGUT09

Sponsored By: South Dakota Humanities Council

Please let us know what you thought of the program!
https://sdhumanities.wufoo.com/forms/r10zvgvg124kfm2/

Having repaired specialized equipment which will allow the library to digitize materials in it’s collection and digitally preserving them for public use, this event will focus on showcasing the library’s digitization process and the preserved content.

Scholars: Gwen McCausland and Michele Christian

Sponsored by: SDSU Hilton M. Briggs Library

For more information, contact: Michele Christian <michele.christian@sdstate.edu>

2024 One Book South Dakota

A book discussion of Little and Often: A Memoir by Trent Preszler

Scholar: Lori Walsh

Sponsored by: First Presbyterian Readers Group

For more information, contact: Linda Rasmussen <dlrasmussen@sio.midco.net>

In 2024, SDHC will offer a series of writing workshops in two locations statewide. Below are the primary goals of the workshops.

• To connect veterans with others who have shared or similar life experiences
• To provide a welcoming and comfortable place for veterans to “tell their stories”
• To create a collection of stories that can be shared with a broader audience
• To provide a platform for veterans to engage in lifelong learning through writing

Location: Rapid City Public Library, Hoyt Room

Scholar: Molly Barari

Sponsored by: South Dakota Humanities Council

For more information, contact: Stacy Chidaushe <stacy@sdhumanities.org>

This event is part of the Stories of Resilience project, which features stories from people who have faced challenges related to mental health or suicide and found help, hope and healing.

Learn more at:https://30stories.resilienttoday.org/

Scholar: Heidi Marttila-Losure

Sponsored by: Lost&Found

For more information, contact: Erik Muckey

Following last year’s successful Speaking of Health series, this first of several events kicks off a totally new health-related series, and features Dr. Mona Hannah-Attisha discussing her book What the Eyes Don’t See.This New York Times notable book focuses on the Flint, Michigan water crisis and how Dr. Hannah-Attisha and her team helped to expose the truth about lead in the tap water.

Scholar: Dr. Mona Hannah-Attisha

Sponsored by: USD Sanford School of Medicine

Join Webex meeting
https://sanfordhealth.webex.com/sanfordhealth/j.php?MTID=mdea8d1255f2e4629dc54f98cfd048ce2

Meeting number (access code): 2435 310 2895
Meeting password: crBiMvrg475

To join from a Polycom Video Room, dial the IP address below and enter themeeting ID ( 2435 310 2895 ) when prompted.
Join from a video systemor application
Dial 2435 310 2895@sanfordhealth.webex.com
You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number.

Join by phone
+1-312-535-8110 United States Toll (Chicago)
+1-720-650-7664 United States Toll (Denver)
Globalcall-in numbers

For more information, contact: Peter Hoesing <Peter.Hoesing@dsu.edu>

In 2024, SDHC will offer a series of writing workshops in two locations statewide. Below are the primary goals of the workshops.

• To connect veterans with others who have shared or similar life experiences
• To provide a welcoming and comfortable place for veterans to “tell their stories”
• To create a collection of stories that can be shared with a broader audience
• To provide a platform for veterans to engage in lifelong learning through writing

Location: Brookings Public Library, Cooper Room B

Scholar: Amber Jensen

Sponsored by: South Dakota Humanities Council

For more information, contact: Stacy Chidaushe <stacy@sdhumanities.org>

This event is part of the Stories of Resilience project, which features stories from people who have faced challenges related to mental health or suicide and found help, hope and healing.

Learn more at:https://30stories.resilienttoday.org/

Scholar: Heidi Marttila-Losure

Sponsored by: Lost&Found

For more information, contact: Erik Muckey

NOTE: This event takes place at 7:00 pm Mountain Time.

Screening of POWER OF POSSIBILITY: The Impact of Public Art in South Dakota Communities at the Journey Museum in Rapid City. Inspired by Power of Possibility, the outdoor sculpture installed on the DWU campus in Mitchell in 2022, the documentary features comments by artist Joan Benefiel, Dale Lamphere (South Dakota Artist Laureate), and Marty Two Bulls, Jr. (Oglala Lakota Artist Laureate), about how public art projects are initiated and completed. The one hour film Includes interviews and a “tour “ of public art in the towns of the state to explore the effects of public art in their communities. The documentary, along with A Study Guide on Public Art, will be available to schools, colleges, and local community organizations for use in their arts and humanities programming.

Scholars: Lesta Turchen,Dale Lamphere, and Marty Two Bulls, Jr.

Sponsored by: Dakota Wesleyan University, Office of Institutional Advancement

For more information, contact: Anna Marie Thatcher <productions@periaktos.com>

This is a livestreamed event. See below for meeting info.

Fifty years ago, the SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station released Yellow Ore, Yellow Hair, Yellow Pine by Donald Progulske and Richard Sowell, a publication of comparative photographs of Black Hills trail sites from 1874 and 1974. Images from these same locations were captured again in the 2023 book Exploring with Custer: The 1874 Black Hills Expedition: Revised 4th Edition by Paul Horsted and Ernest Grafe. In this program, Horsted and scholar Donovin Sprague discuss the locations in the historical and contemporary photographs, how these spaces have changed, and the cultural significance the Black Hills holds for the Oceti Sakowin people.

Scholars: Paul Horsted and Donovin Sprague

Join meeting here:https://sdstate.zoom.us/j/98631197954

Sponsored by: SDSU Department of Natural Resource Management

For more information, contact: Michele Dudash <michele.dudash@sdstate.edu>

Come enjoy this annual event, part of the South Dakota Festival of Books, as a numberof children’s authors will present on their works.
This year’s authors include Olympic Gold Medalist Billy Mills, S.D. Nelson, Donna Janell Bowman, Laura Dean, Jeanne Bowman, Ann Bausum, Lisa Mueller Howard, Jean Mueller Peters, Kelsey Finn, Kevin Smith, Tracy Hauff, and the 2024 Young Readers One Book author, Juana Medina.

For more information and a schedule of events, visithttps://sdhumanities.org/festival-of-books/

2024 One Book South Dakota

A book discussion of Little and Often: A Memoir by Trent Preszler

Sponsored by: Hand County Library

For more information, contact:Hannah Caffee <library@handcountysd.org>