Free and open to the public!

Virtual Book Discussion

“If The Dead Belong Here ”

Monday, February 2, 2026

4:00 PM - 5:30 PM EST

Guest Speaker: Author Carson Faust

Registration information below

On Monday, February 2, 2026, at 4:00 PM, MCNAA will host its first book discussion of the new year. We’ll be exploring “If the Dead Belong Here” by Carson Faust a novel released on October 7, 2025 and described as a Native American Southern Gothic story.

The book follows the disappearance of six‑year‑old Laurel Taylor, an event that fractures her family and awakens older wounds. Her sister Nadine, haunted by vivid nightmares that blur the line between dream and reality, becomes convinced that Laurel’s disappearance is connected to long‑buried family tragedies. With guidance from her elders, Nadine begins a journey to understand whether confronting the past—and laying old ghosts to rest—may be the key to finding her sister and healing her family.

This powerful story weaves together elements of haunting, generational trauma, Indigenous identity, and the weight of family secrets.

We hope you’ll join us for a thoughtful and meaningful conversation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Carson Faust, two-spirit, and an enrolled member of the Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe of South Carolina. He is the recipient of artist fellowships and residencies from the McKnight Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, and the Camargo Foundation. His fiction has appeared in TriQuarterly, ANMLY, Waxwing Magazine, among other journals, and has been anthologized in Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology  (Vintage, 2023). He lives in Minnesota, where he is at work on a second novel.

Free and open to the public!

Virtual Book Discussion

“Sisters in the Wind”

Monday, March 2, 2026

4:00 PM - 5:30 PM EST

Registration information below

Guest Speaker: Junise Golden Feather Bliss (with PowerPoint presentation and Q&A)

On Monday, March 2, 2026 at 4:00 PM, MCNAA will host its second book discussion of the year, featuring Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley. Together, we’ll examine this bestselling author’s bold new mystery that follows a foster teen determined to claim 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Her debut novel Firekeeper's Daughter was an instant #1New York Times bestseller and recipient of many international accolades including the ALA Printz and Morris Awards; the YA Goodreads Choice Award; the Walter Award for Outstanding Children's Literature; and is Carnegie Mellon nominated. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island.