Join the Minnesota Humanities Center and author Kristin Collier on Wednesday, May 20th!
In her striking new memoir, “What Debt Demands: Family, Betrayal, and Precarity in a Broken System,” Grand Central Publishing (2025). Kristin Collier recounts the moment she discovered she owed $200,000—not from debt she incurred, but from loans her mother had taken out in her name without her knowledge. She reflects on the emotional and financial toll of this betrayal, and the lasting impact it has had on her life. Collier’s story also broadens into a powerful exploration of the collective burden of debt in today’s society. She will be joined in conversation by fellow writer Jennifer Eli Bowen, author of “The Book of Kin: On Absence, Love, and Being There.”