Featured Writers
Michael Kleber-Diggs
Michael Kleber-Diggs (KLEE-burr digs) is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things, won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. His essay, “On the Complex Flavors of Black Joy,” is included in the anthology There’s a Revolution Outside, My Love: Letters from a Crisis, edited by Tracy…
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David LaRochelle
David LaRochelle is a former elementary school teacher who has been creating books for young people for 30 years. His many picture book titles include Moo!, How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans, and It’s a Tiger! He is a three-time recipient of the Minnesota Book Award, as well…
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Joyce Sidman
Joyce Sidman’s books have won a Newbery Honor (Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night), a Sibert Award for Nonfiction (The Girl Who Drew Butterflies) and two Caldecott Honors. Her book What the Heart Knows was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. In 2013, she received…
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Crown Shepherd
Crown Shepherd is an author and reading advocate. She has dedicated her life to closing the illiteracy rate within the Black community. Shepherd believes if you can read, you can learn, if you can learn, you can grow, and if you can grow, you can be anything!
Michael Tisserand
Michael Tisserand’s books include the Eisner Award-winning biography Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White, an exploration of the “Krazy Kat” cartoonist and his life on the American color line. Other books include the ASCAP-Deems Taylor-winning The Kingdom of Zydeco, the Hurricane Katrina memoir Sugarcane Academy, and My Father When Young, a self-published…
Naomi Hughes
Naomi Hughes writes quirky young adult sci-fi and fantasy, usually featuring monsters and mental health representation. Her novels include Refraction, which was described by Kirkus Reviews as “a wild, fast-paced ride full of unexpected turns,” and “Afterimage,” which School Library Journal said “deserves a prominent place on sci-fi shelves.” Hughes is a longtime Midwesterner but…
Hampton Smith
Hampton Smith is an independent researcher and writer with a specialty in mid-19th century America and Minnesota History. He was a reference librarian for the Minnesota Historical Society from 1983 to 2015.
Ranae Lenor Hanson
In her writing, Ranae Lenor Hanson weaves a path through the landscapes and communities of Minnesota that have informed her life and vision. In northern Minnesota, she learned an earth-based ethic like that of the Ojibwe people on whose land she grew up. After earning a Ph.D. in cross-cultural education, she taught writing and global…
Amy Sullivan
Amy C. Sullivan, Ph.D., teaches women’s history, children’s history, and the history of medicine, especially where the intersection of race, class, and gender influence these histories. She uses oral history, narrative writing, digital projects, and a robust public history mindset in her scholarship. In her writing, she strives to connect narrators’ experiences in order to…
Tom Combs
Tom Combs’ 25 years as an Emergency Medicine physician provided the foundation for his unforgettable characters and riveting plots. His emotional engagement arises from having helped those facing illness, trauma, and tragedy. Combs is a Minneapolis native and a University of Minnesota Medical School graduate. He did his internship at HCMC and three years EM…
Danny Spewak
Danny Spewak is a journalist, writer, and author with a decade of experience in local broadcast television, including stations in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Buffalo, NY, and mid-Missouri. His first book, From the Gridiron to the Battlefield: Minnesota’s March to a College Football Title and into World War II, is a finalist for the 2022 Minnesota Book…
The Minnesota Writers Directory is a project of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library as the Minnesota Center for the Book. The Library of Congress designated The Friends as Minnesota’s Center in 2012, and in that role The Friends promotes reading, literacy, and libraries throughout Minnesota. Learn more >>
How To Get Listed on the Directory
Thanks for your interest! If you currently live in Minnesota and have your work published in book form, you can apply to be listed. Simply fill out our online application, and we’ll contact you after we’ve reviewed it.
Criteria for all applicants
- You must live and work in Minnesota. If you live in Minnesota for part of the year, please outline your availability in your application. You will be accepted at the discretion of the Minnesota Center for the Book.
- You must be willing to provide an email address for your profile. (This will not be listed on the website, but it will be used to create a unique contact form linked to your email address.)
- You must be willing to have your location in Minnesota (county only) listed in the directory.