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August History and Heritage Book Club News

An author with local ties will tell about her new novel at the August meeting of the History and Heritage Book Club. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 12, at the Cultural Heritage Center.

Brenda Donelan will be the guest speaker, talking about her debut novel “Day of the Dead.” Brenda grew up on a ranch in Stanley County still owned by her parents, Larry and Patty Donelan. She graduated from Stanley County High School in 1985 and obtained her bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctorate at South Dakota State University in Brookings.

Brenda was a college professor at Northern State University in Aberdeen when a professor was found dead on campus. The death was ruled a suicide.

The mystery Brenda wrote, told from the point of view of a female criminal justice professor, has a different conclusion.

“What happened at the campus on Northern inspired my story, but my story is very different than what happened. It’s about one-third based on fact, one-third is exaggeration and one-third is fabricated. It isn’t factual by any means,” Brenda said.
The book is available at the Heritage Stores at the Cultural Heritage Center and the Capitol.

The September speaker will be Miss “V” – The Gypsy Cowbelle. She is a modern-day homesteader in Wyoming. The book club selection is about a homesteader in Wyoming in the early 1900s, “Letters of a Woman Homesteader” by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. Miss “V” will be at the Cultural Heritage Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11, and will perform at the Dakota Western Heritage Festival in Fort Pierre on Sept. 13 and 14.

South Dakota’s 125th birthday will be celebrated in October when Joyce Jefferson, Belinda Joe and Lil Witt present “The Year from Dakota Territory to South Dakota.” Their program will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14, at the Cultural Heritage Center and is based on local newspapers.

We have a great lineup of speakers! Please join us for these programs!