Jill D. Swenson presents The Land of Everlasting Sky with Laurie Hertzel

When Jill Swenson returns to her mother’s hometown after her funeral, she finds a new Seven Clans Casino under construction in Warroad, Minnesota, on Lake of the Woods. Red Lake Nation has recently dispossessed descendants of Ojibway spiritual leader Kakaygeesick from their land—land where the family has lived for the last two centuries. In searching for answers to how this could happen, Jill meets the great-grandson of Kakaygeesick. Over the ensuing weeks, months, and years, a friendship forms between them, and Jill gradually discovers what allotments, blood quantum, and the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs have to do with her, the great-granddaughter of immigrants who homesteaded on reservation land. Estranged from her father, still mourning the suicide of her husband and the loss of their farm in upstate New York, and now grieving her mother’s death, Jill has spent decades trying to put the past behind her—but she ultimately discovers that her only path forward is to reckon with the past, no matter how distant, shameful, or tragic. Clear-eyed and yet deeply personal, The Land of Everlasting Sky is a compelling exploration of the history we inherit and our relationships to land and each other.

Jill D Swenson grew up in the Twin Cities and moved to Wisconsin in high school. She graduated from Lawrence University and earned an MA and PhD from The University of Chicago. She taught journalism and media studies at the University of Georgia-Athens and earned tenure at Ithaca College. For a decade she lived off the grid on a small-scale sustainable farm in upstate New York; and has spent the past fifteen years working as an editor and literary consultant. Jill lives in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she belongs to the curling club, a poetry group and enjoys walking her dog.

Laurie Hertzel spent fifteen years as the books editor at the Minneapolis Star Tribune and now reviews for the Boston Globe, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. Her memoir News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist, also published by the University of Minnesota Press, won a Minnesota Book Award. She is a past president of the National Book Critics Circle and has taught at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, The Ohio State University, and the University of Georgia. In 2023, she received the Kerlan Award in recognition of exceptional support for children’s literature. She is a Distinguished Professor of Practice in thelow-residency MFA program in narrative nonfiction at the University of Georgia.

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