Oct. 16: Minnesota State Mankato's Good Thunder Reading Series Continues with Visit from Poet Heid Erdrich

Thursday, October 16, 2025
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Workshop is first event of the day

Mankato, Minn. – Minnesota State University, Mankato’s 2025-2026 Good Thunder Reading Series will host poet and Robert C. Wright Minnesota Writer in Residence Heid Erdrich on Thursday, Oct. 16 in the series’ second event of the 2025-26 academic year. In addition, Minnesota State Mankato graduate student Haven Sory Steel, who received the University’s Robert C. Wright Minnesota Writer’s Scholarship, will read from her work in the evening of Oct. 16.

All of the events are free and open to the public.

Oct. 16 schedule:

• 10-11 a.m. – Workshop, Memorial Library, first floor.
• 3-3:50 p.m. – Craft Talk, Performing Arts, Room 203A. Books available for purchase.
• 7:30-8:15 p.m. – Haven Sory Steel will read from her work, Carnegie Art Center, 120 S. Broad St., Mankato. Books available for purchase.

The following information about the writers was provided by the Good Thunder Reading Series: Author of nine books of poetry and prose Heid E. Erdrich is a curator and teacher. Erdrich edited the anthology “New Poets of Native Nations” and co-edited the newly published “Boundless: Abundance in Native American Art and Literature.” She served as the inaugural Minneapolis Poet Laureate supported by an Academy of American Poets award. Erdrich held the 2025 James Welch Distinguished Visiting position at the University of Montana. Erdrich’s ongoing project is Poetry Service Announcement (PoeS.A.), which promotes poetry as public art. She serves her communities through formal and informal mentorship, poetry interventions and in activating collaborative response between communities.

Haven Sory Steel was born and raised in Melbourne, Florida. She received her bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in education from the University of Florida and is now a second-year MFA candidate at Minnesota State Mankato. Across all genres, her work centers family, identity and home.

Founded in 1981, the Good Thunder Reading Series brings nationally and internationally acclaimed writers from diverse backgrounds and literary traditions to Mankato, Minnesota, with the goal of promoting access to great literature, inspiring creativity, and connections in our communities, and fostering lively conversations about how writers work and why writing matters.

The Good Thunder Reading Series is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

The 2025-26 Good Thunder Reading Series also receives support from Minnesota State Mankato’s Department of Creative Arts; College of Humanities and Social Sciences; the Nadine B. Andreas Endowment; the Eddice B. Barber Visiting Writer Endowment; the Robert C. Wright Endowment; the Minnesota State Arts Board; Friends of the Library; and individual donors.

For more information or to get involved, contact Robin Becker, a creative writing faculty member at Minnesota State Mankato, at robin.becker@mnsu.edu, or visit gt.mnsu.edu.

Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with 15,251 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 26 colleges and seven universities.