OPLF Annual Fundraiser

Nearly 250 guests joined the Omaha Public Library Foundation and OPL on September 18 to hear from and personally meet Native American author Tommy Orange.

Between the Lines, the annual fundraiser hosted by the Foundation, welcomes a best-selling author for an in-depth conversation and book signing. Dollars raised at the event which this year totaled just under $40,000 will support library programs and services.

Creighton University’s Harper Center, which hosted “Just Mercy” author Bryan Stevenson in 2022, served as the event venue.

The evening opened with remarks from Mary O’Donohue, board president of the Omaha Public Library Foundation, followed by presentation of the 2024 Barbara Bock-Mavis Leadership Award to Merrilee Mosier Miller. Eileen Wirth, a founding foundation board member, awarded Miller with the honor. The annual award recognizes longtime service to the Foundation.

Following a welcome and Native American prayer by Dr. Rudi Mitchell, Orange took the stage for a moderated conversation with Christina Faw Faw Goodson, co-director of the Walking in the Footsteps of Our Ancestors project at the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe.

The two discussed Orange’s childhood, writing, and research, as well as major influences on his work as an author. Orange’s two books include "There There” and "Wandering Stars.”

Visit omahalibraryfoundation.org for more information on OPLF and for details of next year’s fundraiser, which will also mark OPLF’s 40th anniversary.