Fire in the Village: New and Selected Stories

The Minneapolis Tribune, The 50 best books for holiday giving–November 27th, 2016 I was a quiet child with a gift for remembering, Anne M. Dunn writes in the foreword to this important book. Dunn is a storyteller and elder on the Leech Lake Reservation, and the 75 stories in this collection include creation myths, fables and legends of survival. My mother said that a story is alive only when it is carried on the breath of the teller to the ears of those who hear, she writes. You can hear her voice in all these stories. They are wonderfully alive. –Reviewed by Laurie Hertzel, Star Tribune books editor

These are stories of the magic of and connection to Earth, to people and to spirit that can be found on any day we choose to look through eyes of wonder.–Winds of Change

A large gathering of seventy-five engaging stories that represent a lifetime of master story-telling and offer keen, loving insights into the mythic origins of the natural and supernatural worlds around and within the reader.

Anne M. Dunn (1940) is an Anishinabeg-Ojibwe grandmother story-teller. She was born on the Red Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota, was enrolled at the White Earth Reservation, grew up on the Leech Lake Reservation and resides in Cass Lake. Her books include: When Beaver Was Very Great, Grandmother’s Gift and Winter Thunder.

As a young girl, she received many gifts from the wonderful storehouse of oral legends and animal fables of the Ojibwe, especially from her mother, Maefred Vanos Arey, and her grandmother, Frances Vanoss. Like many Native American children, Anne experienced life on reservation land and also lived for a time in Minneapolis. Anne grew up to become a licensed practical nurse, a mother of six, a newspaper reporter, and a professional storyteller.