We Believe in the Library. We Invest in the Library.
The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library believes that libraries are essential. We act as a catalyst for libraries to strengthen and inspire their communities. Learn more in this short video about our work.
Books and so much more
Libraries are the best way to strengthen communities because they connect individuals of every age, ethnicity, and background with resources that enrich and improve lives.
Has the Public Library Made an Impact in Your Life or Community?
Stronger Libraries for Stronger Communities
“I don’t know how to help my child with their homework, so this helps them. We love it here, and the kids want to come.”
– Safiya, mother
“This storytime means so much to me because my kids get to learn their native language.”
– Po, parent
“The library brings people together. It’s a place to come together around community and information.”
– Darren, small-business owner
“The best thing about this program is that it has all the resources a low-income student may need to do well in school… along with a safe learning environment for students to work.”
– Mai Xee, student
Upcoming Events
“Gatsby at 100” Exhibit
September 13, 2025 – March 22, 2026
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
2400 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis
“Gatsby at 100,” opening in fall 2025 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, will explore how F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel shaped and was shaped by the visual art of his time. The exhibition will bring together works from Mia’s collection that embody the decadence, social upheaval, and underlying racism of Fitzgerald’s most famous novel, highlighting paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs that are rarely on view. Like Fitzgerald, artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Oskar Kokoschka, and Henri Matisse, as well as regional artists like Wanda Gág, Clement Haupers, and Frances Cranmer Greenman, endeavored to capture the contradictions of the Jazz Age, a term coined by Fitzgerald himself. Entry is free.
Learn more here.
Gatsby at 100
2025 is the 100th anniversary of the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby. To mark this milestone, The Friends is convening a variety of programs that invite us to revisit the book and consider how its themes apply today. Learn more and browse programs here.
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
Wednesday, September 17
6:30 p.m. Discussion
Utepils
225 Thomas Ave N
Minneapolis
This event is FREE and open to the public.
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Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.
So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I, and lets her publicist rebrand her as Juniper Song. But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her.
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With The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, moderator Jeff Kamin brings his unique take on a public book club show to Saint Paul. Even if you don’t like the featured book, he “guarantees a good time at our entertaining discussions.” All are welcome to try this moderated reinvention of the book club.
One Book | One Minnesota Virtual Author Conversation
Wednesday, September 17 | 7:00 p.m.
With Sheila O’Connor
Free and open to the public | Register here
The author of the featured title, Evidence of V: a Novel in Fragments, Facts, and Fictions, will join in a statewide virtual conversation about her book and her work. One Book | One Minnesota is a statewide book club that invites Minnesotans of all ages to read a common title and come together virtually to enjoy, reflect, and discuss.
During the reading period, August 4 through September 28, Minnesotans will be invited to read the featured book selection and will have access to author videos, reading guides, and virtual book club discussions. Readers can access the ebook for free on Ebooks Minnesota. Learn more here.
About the Book
A blend of fact and fiction, including family secrets, documents from the era, and a thin, fragmentary case file unsealed by the court, Sheila O’Connor tells the riveting story of V, a talented fifteen-year-old singer in 1930s Minneapolis who aspires to be a star. Drawing on the little-known American practice of incarcerating adolescent girls for “immorality” in the first half of the twentieth century, O’Connor follows young V from her early work as a nightclub entertainer to her subsequent six-year state school sentence for an unplanned pregnancy. As V struggles to survive within a system only nominally committed to rescue and reform, she endures injustices that will change the course of her life and the lives of her descendants.
One Book | One Minnesota is presented by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, as the Minnesota Center for the Book, in partnership with State Library Services and sponsored by Blaze Credit Union. Program partners also include AmazeWorks, Council of Regional Public Library System Administrators; Lerner Publishing; Mackin VIA; Minitex; and the Minnesota Department of Education. This program is made possible in part through an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature to The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library as the Minnesota Center for the Book.
More information at www.thefriends.org/onebook
Enjoy a lively discussion with three multi-genre, Minnesota authors: Claudia May, Lindsay Starck, and Peter Geye. Moving Words is an opportunity for writers and readers to explore various themes together: the impact of literature in their lives, their connection as fellow Minnesotans, and the lens through which we read.
Moving Words is a program of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library as the Library of Congress-designated Minnesota Center for the Book. This program is made possible in part by the State of Minnesota through an appropriation to the Minnesota Department of Education, The Harlan Boss Foundation, and the generous support of Bernadette and Jeffrey Janisch.
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
Tuesday, September 23
6:30 p.m. Discussion
Urban Growler
2325 Endicott St
St. Paul
This event is FREE and open to the public.
—
Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.
So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I, and lets her publicist rebrand her as Juniper Song. But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her.
—
With The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, moderator Jeff Kamin brings his unique take on a public book club show to Saint Paul. Even if you don’t like the featured book, he “guarantees a good time at our entertaining discussions.” All are welcome to try this moderated reinvention of the book club.