Jill Swenson Sharing The Land of Everlasting Sky
Category: Event Calendar
Date and Time
- Thursday, Jun 25, 2026 6pm - 7pm
Location
Lion's Mouth Bookstore
211 N. Washington St.
Details
Join us for a moving author talk with Jill Swenson, sharing The Land of Everlasting Sky, a memoir of loss and legacy on Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods.
About the Book
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, she learns—land where the family has lived for the last two centuries—and has also denied them tribal membership.
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.
About the Author
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.
