Blaine – We are Water Exhibit Opening with Keynote Author Kao Kalia Yang

You’re invited to help celebrate the launch of the We Are Water Exhibit at Anoka County Northtown Library! The event is kicked off by keynote speaker Kao Kalia Yang, author of Where Rivers Part and winner of the 2025 Minnesota Book Award in the memoir category. After the keynote, explore the exhibit, visit the water tasting bar, and learn about water issues from community partners Coon Creek Watershed District, City of Spring Lake Park, Anoka County Transportation, MN Department of Agriculture, and Anoka Conservation District.

Schedule of Events:

10:30 a.m. Keynote by Minnesota Author Kao Kalia Yang
10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Visit a Street Sweeper & Snow Plow
11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Nitrate Well Water Testing – Run your water for at least 5 minutes and bring a 1 cup cold sample in a solid sealed container
11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Water Bar Tasting
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Pond Dipping – Identify tiny pond creatures with a magnifying glass

Kao Kalia Yang is the writer of of Where Rivers Part and winner of the 2025 Minnesota Book Award in the memoir category. Additionally, she is the author of the memoirs The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, The Song Poet, and Somewhere in the Unknown World. Yang is also the author of the children’s books A Map Into the World, The Shared Room, The Most Beautiful Thing, Yang Warriors, and From the Tops of the Trees. She co-edited the ground-breaking collection What God is Honored Here?: Writings on Miscarriage and Infant Loss By and For Native Women and Women of Color. Yang’s work has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the PEN USA literary awards, the Dayton’s Literary Peace Prize, as Notable Books by the American Library Association, Kirkus Best Books of the Year, the Heartland Bookseller’s Award, and garnered four Minnesota Book Awards. Kao Kalia Yang lives in Minnesota.

We Are Water MN is a project of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Humanities Center in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society; the Board of Water and Soil Resources; the Minnesota Departments of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources; and University of Minnesota Extension. We are Water MN is paid for by the Clean Water Fund, part of the Clean Water, Land, & Legacy Amendment that was created with the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Registration

This event is free and open to the public. Registration with Anoka County Library required to reserve a seat for Kao Kalia Yang’s keynote.

Questions: civics@mnhum.org

Register Now