The 19th season of A Novel Idea … Read Together wraps up this weekend with appearances by this year’s authors, Christine Day and Diane Wilson.

A Novel Idea is Deschutes Public Library system’s annual community reading celebration. Each December, the library announces the book of choice for the following spring — and this time around, there’s an additional youth selection.

After the announcement is made the library follows up in April with a host of book discussions and other programming touching on the books’ themes.

Wilson is the author of this year’s adult title, “The Seed Keeper,” while Wilson’s book, “I Can Make this Promise,” is aimed at middle-grade readers, which is kids from about ages 8 to 12.

All of this culminates in a live, in-person appearance by the authors, at least when there’s not a pandemic raging. In a new twist for A Novel Idea, the fact that there are two authors means that the format of the event, first on Friday evening in Bend and then Saturday afternoon in Madras, will feature Day and Wilson in conversation.

The idea is a strong one. Though the books are written for and marketed toward different age groups, each is rooted in the authors’ Indigenous roots. As Deschutes Public Library Programs Supervisor Liz Goodrich said in 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.”

More recently, Goodrich said of this weekend’s events, “It’s cool because they’re going to be in conversation with each other about their books. It’s definitely going to be something different than what people have seen before.”

Day recently spoke to GO! about her book, which tells the story of a girl named Edie, who, while playing in her attic one day, uncovers a hidden box that reveals the nature of her Native American mother’s adoption by a white couple.

“Prior to the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, it was pretty common for Native babies and kids to be kind of have these coerced adoptions where they were separated from their families under kind of sketchy circumstances sometimes,” Day told GO! “But a lot of people don’t know about that history, and so that’s part of the reason why I decided to cover it a little bit in this book, with fictional characters.”

It’s an upsetting prospect for young Edie, who finds among the cache letters signed “Love, Edith” along with photographs of someone who looks a lot like herself.

“That’s the reason why … her parents had never really told her exactly where her name came from or explained the circumstances of how her family was built through adoption — because it is something that is so obviously painful for folks who did go through it or do know about this history,” Day said.

When to talk to kids about difficult things that exist in the world is one thing she wanted to dig into in the book.

“One of the leading questions that I wanted to explore in this book is when are kids ready for really difficult conversations like that, whether it applies to them or whatever,” Day said. “That is part of the origin story of ‘I Can Make this Promise,’ and what kind of led me to this particular story.”

What: 2022 A Novel Idea presents Diane Wilson and Christine Day in conversation

Details:

• 6 p.m. Friday at Bend High Auditorium, 230 NE Sixth St., Bend

• 4 p.m. Saturday at Madras Performing Arts Center, 412 SE Buff St., Madras

Cost: Tickets are free, but required

Contact: deschuteslibrary.org, lizg@dpls.lib.or.us or 541-312-1032