One Book South Dakota

South Dakota Humanities Council Speakers Bureau

What if everyone in South Dakota read the same book?

Since 2003, the One Book South Dakota program has encouraged everyone across South Dakota to read and discuss the same novel or memoir throughout the course of a year.

Many times, a One Book South Dakota event will feature a variety of experiences that relate to the book. For example, a book discussion of Buffalo for the Broken Heart might also include a sampling of bison meat or a presentation by a local bison rancher. The program encourages an interactive and comprehensive discussion of the text as it relates to our everyday lives.

2010 Selection

What is the What by Dave Eggers In keeping with our mission of "supporting and promoting the exchange of ideas to foster a thoughtful and engaged society," each year at the South Dakota Humanities Council we will be highlighting one central theme through our events, programs, and grant-making activities. In 2010, that topic is immigration.

It only seems fitting to begin here. Immigration—past or present—is a fundamental part of our nation’s identity. The fabric of America is entwined with stories of those who arrived here with little more than hope. It is defined by the sacrifices that were made and the hardships that were faced, and it has been transformed through the communities that were created. But immigration, like everything else, also has a dark side to it. In our history is the forced immigration of African slaves, the internment of Japanese immigrants during World War II, and the devastating effect immigration had on tribal communities.

The dual nature of immigration still exists today. According to the U.S. government, forced immigration known as human trafficking has been reported in all 50 states, with thousands of men and women being exploited for labor or sex each year within our own borders. On the other side, there are the stories of war refugees who have been granted asylum within our borders, bringing with it religious freedom, peace, and a renewed sense of home.

A key element of any good conversation is balance. Many sides of an issue should be presented, and there must be equal time for all. We hope to start this multilayered conversation through One Book that deserves to be read and discussed by everyone in South Dakota. It is the story of Valentino Achak Deng’s remarkable journey from war-torn East Africa to the United States, as written by Dave Eggers. Valentino is one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan, a group of young men who were left to wander through the jungles of East Africa because they were separated from their parents—through bloodshed or chaos—during the Sudanese civil war.

The book documents the hardships faced by Valentino and many of the Lost Boys in Africa, as well as the tribulations he experienced adjusting to life in the United States. The book is set in Africa and Atlanta, but his story is closer than one might expect. South Dakota is home to one of the largest Sudanese refugee populations in the country—per capita it is the largest.

We hope you’ll take part in this statewide discussion with your family, your friends, your co-workers, and others in your community. Homegrown book clubs are invited to apply to this program, as are book clubs organized through local libraries, museums, and other cultural organizations. For a small application fee, we will provide reader’s guides and copies of the book for everyone in your discussion group, as well as a scholar to lead the discussion if you would like one.

About the Book
What Is the What is the epic novel based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng who, along with thousands of other children—the so-called Lost Boys—was forced to leave his village in Sudan at the age of seven and trek hundreds of miles by foot, pursued by militias, government bombers, and wild animals, crossing the deserts of three countries to find freedom. When he finally is resettled in the United States, he finds a life full of promise, but also heartache and myriad new challenges. Moving, suspenseful, and unexpectedly funny, What Is the What is an astonishing novel that illuminates the lives of millions through one extraordinary man. (Random House)

About Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers is the author of six previous books, including Zeitoun, a non-fiction account a Syrian-American immigrant and his extraordinary experience during Hurricane Katrina and What Is the What, a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award. That book, about Valentino Achak Deng, a survivor of the civil war in southern Sudan, gave birth to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, run by Mr. Deng and dedicated to building secondary schools in southern Sudan. Eggers is the founder and editor of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house based in San Francisco that produces a quarterly journal, a monthly magazine (The Believer), and Wholphin, a quarterly DVD of short films and documentaries. In 2002, with Nínive Calegari he co-founded 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for youth in the Mission District of San Francisco. Local communities have since opened sister 826 centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Ann Arbor, Seattle, and Boston. In 2004, Eggers taught at the University of California–Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and there, with Dr. Lola Vollen, he co-founded Voice of Witness, a series of books using oral history to illuminate human rights crises around the world. A native of Chicago, Eggers graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children.

About Valentino Achak Deng
Valentino Achak Deng, was born in Southern Sudan, in the village of Marial Bai. He fled Sudan in the late 1980’s during civil war, when his village was destroyed by murahaleen—the same type of militia that currently terrorizes Darfur. Deng spent nine years in Ethiopian and Kenyan refugee camps, where he worked for the UNHCR as a social advocate and reproductive health educator. In 2001 he resettled to Atlanta. Deng has toured the country speaking about his life in Sudan, his experience as a refugee, and his collaboration with author Dave Eggers on What Is the What, the novelized version of Deng’s life story. As a leader in the Sudanese diaspora, Deng advocates for the universal right to education and the freedom of his people in Sudan. In 2006, Deng and Eggers established the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation to help rebuild Sudanese communities by increasing access to educational opportunities. The Foundation’s first major initiative is to create a viable and community-driven educational center in Marial Bai. Visit www.valentinoachakdeng.org for more information about the foundation.

Past selections:

2010 Selection
	*What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng* by Dave Eggers What Is the What is the epic novel based on the life of Valentino Achak Deng who, along with thousands of other children—the so-called Lost Boys—was forced to leave his village in Sudan at the age of seven and trek hundreds of miles by foot, pursued by militias, government bombers, and wild animals, crossing the deserts of three countries to find freedom. When he finally is resettled in the United States, he finds a life full of promise, but also heartache and myriad new challenges. Moving, suspenseful, and unexpectedly funny, What Is the What is an astonishing novel that illuminates the lives of millions through one extraordinary man. Random House \| 2006 \| 535 pages \| Paperback
2009 Selection
	*Buffalo for the Broken Heart* by Dan O'Brien For twenty years Dan O’Brien struggled to make ends meet on his cattle ranch in South Dakota. But when a neighbor invited him to lend a hand at the annual buffalo roundup, O’Brien was inspired to convert his own ranch, the Broken Heart, to buffalo. Starting with thirteen calves, “short-necked, golden balls of wool,” O’Brien embarked on a journey that returned buffalo to his land for the first time in more than a century and a half. Buffalo for the Broken Heart is at once a tender account of the buffaloes’ first seasons on the ranch and an engaging lesson in wildlife ecology. Whether he’s describing the grazing pattern of the buffalo, the thrill of watching a falcon home in on its prey, or the comical spectacle of a buffalo bull wallowing in the mud, O’Brien combines a novelist’s eye for detail with a naturalist’s understanding to create an enriching, entertaining narrative. Random House \| 2001 \| 262 Pages \| Paperback
2008 Selection
	*The Master Butchers Singing Club* by Louise Erdrich Having survived World War I, Fidelis Wadvogel returns to his quiet German village and marries the pregnant widow of his best friend, killed in action. With a suitcase full of sausages and a master butcher’s precious knife set, Fidelis sets out for America. In Argus, North Dakota, he builds a business, a home for his family—which includes Eva and four sons—and a singing club consisting of the best voices in town. When the old world meets the New—in the person of Delphine Watzka—the great adventure of Fidelis’s life begins. Delphine meets Eva and is enchanted. She meets Fidelis, and the ground trembles. These momentous encounters will determine the course of Delphine’s life, and the trajectory of this brilliant novel. Harper Perennial \| 2005 \| 388 Pages \| Paperback
2007 Selection
	*The Whistling Season* by Ivan Doig In the unforgettable fall of 1909, Rose Llewellyn and her brother, Morris Morgan, bring west with them “several kinds of education”—none of them of the textbook variety—and life is never again the same in Marias Coulee, Montana. Harcourt \| 2007 \| 345 Pages \| Paperback
2006 Selection
	*Gilead* by Marilynne Robinson Twenty-four years after her first novel, Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson returns with a story about fathers and sons and the spiritual battles that still rage in America’s heart. In the luminous and unforgettable voice of Congregationalist minister John Ames, Gilead reveals the human condition and “manages to convey the miracle of existence itself.” Picador \| 2004 \| 247 Pages \| Paperback
2005 Selection
	*The Work of Wolves* by Kent Meyers When fourteen-year-old Carson Fielding buys his first horse—a run-down, wild-eyed roan—from the wealthiest rancher in his South Dakota boarder town, he learns a hard lesson about dealing with powerful men. Years later, Carson grudgingly agrees to work for the rancher, training his horses and teaching his wife, Rebecca, to ride. Carson and Rebecca fall in love, angering her vengeful husband, who sets off a cruel chain of events that shocks even the most hardened residents of the town. With the help from friends at the nearby Lakota Indian reservation, Carson challenges the ranchers’ rule, fiercely determined to protect what he holds most dear. Harcourt, Inc. \| 2005 \| 407 Pages \| Paperback
2004 Selection
	*The Art of Mending* by Elizbeth Berg It begins with the sudden revelation of astonishing secrets—secrets that have shaped the personalities and fates of three siblings, and now threaten to tear them apart. In renowned author Elizabeth Berg’s moving new novel, unearthed truths force one seemingly ordinary family to reexamine their disparate lives and to ask themselves: Is it too late to mend the hurts of the past? Laura Bartone anticipates her annual family reunion in Minnesota with a mixture of excitement and wariness. Yet this year’s gathering will prove to be much more trying than either she or her siblings imagined. As soon as she arrives, Laura realizes that something is not right with her sister. Forever wrapped up in events of long ago, Caroline is the family’s restless black sheep. When Caroline confronts Laura and their brother, Steve, with devastating allegations about their mother, the three have a difficult time reconciling their varying experiences in the same house. But a sudden misfortune will lead them all to face the past, their own culpability, and their common need for love and forgiveness. Readers have come to love Elizabeth Berg for the “lucent beauty of [her] prose, the verity of her insights, and the tenderness of her regard for her fellow human” (Booklist). In The Art of Mending, her most profound and emotionally satisfying novel to date, she confronts some of the deepest mysteries of life, as she explores how even the largest sins can be forgiven by the smallest gestures, and how grace can come to many through the trials of one. Random House \| 2004 256 Pages \| Paperback
2003 Selection
	*Peace Like A River* by Leif Enger Leif Enger’s best-selling debut is at once a heroic request, a tragedy, and a love story, in which “what could be unbelievable becomes extraordinary” (Connie Ogle, The Miami Herald). Enger brings us eleven-year-old Reuben Land, an asthmatic boy in the Midwest who has a reason to believe in miracles. Along with his sister and father, Reuben finds himself on a cross-country search for his outlaw older brother who has been controversially charged with murder. Their journey unfolds like a revelation, and its conclusion shows how family, love, and faith can stand up to the most terrifying of enemies, the most tragic of fates. Grove Press \| 2001 \| 312 Pages \| Paperback

How to Apply

1. Get a group together
Any non-profit organization is eligible to apply for a reading program. Select a book to
discuss and set a date for your event. We invite you to choose this year’s One Book
South Dakota.

2. Find a scholar to lead your discussion
Contact scholars directly to see if they will lead your group discussion.

3. Apply
If your book club would like to apply, find a sponsoring organization (this can be any non-profit organization, such as a library or museum). Download an application. Mail your completed application and a $35 application fee to South Dakota Humanities Council, 1215 Trail Ridge Rd., Suite A, Brookings, SD, 57006.

4. Promote, publicize, and conduct your event
At you event, be sure to thank the South Dakota Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities for support.

5. Complete a short evaluation form and return the books

Please note: Applications must be sent 4-6 weeks in advance of your reading program.

Discussion Scholars

One of our many available humanities scholars can enhance your book club's discussion of a particular text by bringing in additional knowledge about the subject matter, outside research, or unique experiences that relate to the text at hand. Before submitting your application for funding, please confirm the details of your event with your scholar.


Kathy Antonen kathy.antonen@sdsmt.edu	Marilyn Carlson Aronson mcarlson@national.edu	Marian Cramer mariancramer@yahoo.com


Lawrence Diggs vinegar@vinegarman.com	Janice Mikesell hensteethjanice@earthlink.net	Jean Patrick jean@jeanpatrick.com


Don Simmons dosimmon@dwu.edu	Ken Steinken kensteinken@juno.com	Jamie Sullivan jsullivan@mtmc.edu


Nancy Veglahn nveglahn@sio.midco.net	Elizabeth Williams lizerly@brookings.net	Norma Wilson norma.wilson@usd.edu


Charles Woodard charles.woodard@sdstate.edu

Programs & Events

2010 Selection

2010 Selection

2009 Selection

2008 Selection

2007 Selection

2006 Selection

2005 Selection

2004 Selection

2003 Selection

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