On Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 6:30 p.m., Dr. Julie Pearson-Little Thunder will discuss “The Bingo Palace” by Louise Erdrich which is the third novel in the Stillwater Public Library’s “Let’s Talk About It” series.  The library is using community reading, scholarly presentations and group discussion to gain a better understanding of Native American culture and Plains Indian literature.

“The Bingo Palace,” published in 1994, follows characters struggling with life and coming of age on a Native American reservation in North Dakota.  Characters from Erdrich’s earlier novels “Love Medicine,” “The Beet Queen,” and “Tracks” reprise their roles in “The Bingo Palace.”  Taken as a whole, the four novels are meant to represent an entire century of Native American culture.

“Native people, like everyone else, dream, love, wrestle with compulsions, deal with dysfunctional families, succeed, fail, and lose people they love prematurely.  Perhaps the most realistic parts of ‘The Bingo Palace’ have to do with the prejudice encountered by American Indians, and the kinds of cultural misunderstandings that occur when people are forced to deal daily with institutions, economic systems and belief systems different from their own.”

Pearson-Little Thunder is the Visiting Assistant Professor for OSU’s Oklahoma Oral History Research Program which she joined in September 2010.  She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and specializes in Native Theater, though oral histories and oral history methodology have always been an important part of her work.  Pearson-Little Thunder has taught in a variety of institutions, including Haskell Indian Nations University and written extensively about the Native art scene for “Oklahoma Today” and “Southwest Art” magazine.

While Erdrich is currently one of the most popular Native American writers, Pearson-Little Thunder urges readers to acquaint themselves with a wide range of Native writers.

“Let’s Talk About It” programs are free and open to the public.  Copies of “The Bingo Palace” can be picked up at the Stillwater Public Library.  Books in the series are provided by the Oklahoma Humanities Council with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Kirkpatrick Family Fund and the Inasmuch Foundation.  Reading the book is encouraged but not required to participate.

For more information, visit the Stillwater Public Library web site at library.stillwater.org, or call 405-372-3633, or the OSU Library website at www.library.okstate.edu or call 405-744-7331.

The Stillwater Public Library is located at 1107 S. Duck St. (the corner of Duck and 12th Ave.).