For 19 years now, April showers have brought to Central Oregon A Novel Idea … Read Together. The Deschutes Public Library Foundation’s annual community reading event. Each December, the library announces the following year’s selection, around which readers rally for discussions and theme-related programming.

Like last year, 2022 brings into focus two books: the main selection, “The Seed Keeper,” by Diane Wilson, along with a youth title, “I Can Make This Promise,” by Christine Day.

And for the first time in two years, most A Novel Idea events will be held in person. A series of book-related events begin this weekend, flowering, come May, with the two authors joining each other in conversations about their books, first on May 6 in Bend, then May 7 in Madras.

“Embarking on our 19th year of ‘A Novel Idea’ readers are invited to delve into two separate yet deeply rooted books,” Deschutes Public Library Programs Supervisor Liz Goodrich said when the books were announced last December. “Day’s novel is inspired by her own family’s history, while Wilson blends history and fiction, offering an inspiring story of Dakota women who protected their family seeds and way of life. Both authors are remarkable storytellers and their connection to the natural world fills each page with hope.”

In a recent interview, Goodrich told GO! the idea of adding a youth-oriented novel to the proceedings was something the library had planned for several years prior to 2021.

“Now that we’re really doing it, it’s awesome, and during the last two years we’ve managed to pick books that really sort of speak to each other across generations, which is great,” Goodrich said. Two events with two authors, however, involves a lot of moving parts, she said.

And with this year being the first time events will convene in person since 2019, “We’ve had to remember how to do things, and it has been at times really painful,” Goodrich said.

Given the authors’ Indigenous backgrounds and their books’ subject matter, Goodrich and other organizers made planning this year’s events an inclusive process with members of Warm Springs, Klamath and other tribes participating in both the planning of the events and presenting events themselves.

“We felt an obligation to be very thoughtful about what we offer, what we’re going to plan for programming. Those are conversations and relationships that we’ve never (had) before,” she said. “They asked us not to look away from the hard things. They asked us to make sure that we are including not just the historical perspective, but also their current lived experience. They asked us to focus on the joy and the resiliency of the community.”

Taking it all to heart, the library team has a highly qualified roster of presenters for programming leading up to May’s appearances by Wilson and Day.

“I am extremely proud of the work that we are going to be putting forward,” Goodrich said.

A few highlights of events this week include the following:

• “Daughter of a Lost Bird” documentary screening at 3 p.m. Saturday at Open Space Event Studios, 220 NE Lafayette Ave., Bend. “’Daughter of a Lost Bird’ follows Kendra, an adult Native adoptee, as she reconnects with her birth family, discovers her Lummi heritage, and confronts issues of her own identity. Her singular story echoes many affected by the Indian Child Welfare Act and the Indian Adoption Project.”

• “Yes, I’m Native. No, My Liver Doesn’t Hurt,” a presentation at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Brooks Room of the Downtown Bend Library, 601 NW Wall St., Bend. Amanda Page, enrolled member of the Klamath Tribes, will lead this exploration of the health of Indigenous people in U.S. history, including the root cause and overwhelming disparities, since colonialism began. As Page says, “Learning this history is the first step in understanding how generational trauma has caused such a huge disparity in the health of Indigenous people in the US.”

• “My Life in Central Oregon and with DPL,” an online only presentation at 6 p.m. Monday. Darwin Tommy Simtustus was born in Redmond and raised on the Warm Springs Reservation. Darwin’s father was Chief Amos Simtustus Sr. of the Warm Springs Tribe, and his grandmother was a descendant of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Tribe.

• Ichishkín Language Revitalization, 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Downtown Bend Library, 601 NW Wall St., Bend. Jefferson Greene, who was born and raised on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon will discuss Native language revitalization. Central Oregon was home to a few now-extinct Indigenous languages, and there are now about 10 speakers of Ichishkín (Tanánma-John Day/Columbia River Basin), and Nuwu (Paiute) has even fewer.

Look for more coverage on Wilson and Day in an upcoming issue of GO! For more information on A Novel Idea and other upcoming events, visit deschuteslibrary.org/calendar/novelidea.