Library to host talk with Lakota crime fiction author

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BROOKINGS – David Heska Wanbli Weiden will discuss his new thriller, “Winter Counts,” and his experiences as an author with the Brookings Public Library at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 10, on Zoom. 

The link and login information for this event can be found on the library’s website or Facebook page.

Weiden is an enrolled member of the Sicangu Lakota nation, and “Winter Counts” is his first novel. The book is a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and was named one of the Best Books of 2020 by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Amazon and NPR. The book was also selected as an Amazon Best Mystery and Thriller of the year and as one of the 20 recommended books of the year by the Los Angeles Times. 

“Winter Counts” was nominated for the Best Debut Novel and Best Mystery and Thriller in the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards, and also nominated for Book of the Year by the Book of the Month Club.

The novel is the story of a local Native American enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation who becomes obsessed with finding and stopping the dealer who is bringing in increasingly dangerous drugs into his community. It’s a Native thriller, an examination of the broken criminal justice system on reservations, and a meditation on Native identity. 

Weiden received his MFA in creative writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts, his law degree from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently a professor of Native American studies and political science at Metropolitan State University of Denver and lives in Colorado with his two sons.

“Winter Counts” is available for checkout at the Brookings Public Library in book, audiobook, and eBook formats. For more information about Weiden and his novel, visit davidweiden.com.

Email Mikaela Neubauer at mneubauer@cityofbrookings.org with any questions about this program. 

For additional information about the programs and services of the Brookings Public Library, visit www.brookingslibrary.org and be sure to follow the library on Facebook @bkglib.