Featured Writers
Kim Todd
Kim Todd writes about history and science. She focused on forgotten stories—uncovering events and people that, while overlooked, continue to shape our world. She is the author of four books of literary nonfiction: Sensational: The Hidden History of America’s “Girl Stunt Reporters”; Sparrow; Chrysalis, Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets…
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Brian Malloy
Brian Malloy’s novels have been a Book Sense pick, a New York Times New and Notable title, an Oprah selection for best LGBT books of 2021, an Apple Books best new release selection, a 2021 Publishers Marketplace buzz book, and a Booklist editors’ choice. Other honors include the Minnesota Book…
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Molly Beth Griffin
Molly Beth Griffin is the author of several picture books including Ten Beautiful Things, Rhoda’s Rock Hunt, and The Big Leaf Leap, as well as the award-winning young adult novel Silhouette of a Sparrow. Griffin was the recipient of the 2014 McKnight Artist Fellowship in Children’s Literature along with two…
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Mairead Small Staid
Mairead Small Staid is the author of The Traces. Born and raised in Massachusetts, she is a graduate of Pomona College and the University of Michigan, where she won Hopwood Awards in poetry and nonfiction. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and Phillips Exeter Academy, where she was the 2017-2018…
Carol Dines
Carol Dines’s new young adult novel, The Take-Over Friend, is a finalist for the Achevan Prize. Her recent adult fiction, a collection of stories, This Distance We Call Love, won the Eric Hoffer Book Prize in 2022 and was a finalist in the National Indies Excellence Award for short fiction. In addition, her stories have…
Jennifer Fernjack
Jennifer Fernjack is an author and keynote speaker. Raised in Cloquet, MN, she currently resides in Spring Park, MN. She received her B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas. Through a medical scare in 2016, she learned that courage doesn’t need to be the absence…
A.G. Mayes
A.G. Mayes is a writer, developmental editor, and parking lot striper. She grew up believing in magic and still half expects someone to show up and tell her she’s part fairy. Her Magic Pie Shop books are lighthearted, magical romances. When she’s not hanging out with her family, painting lines in parking lots, or making…
Michael Stanley
Michael Stanley is the pen name of the writing team Stanley Trollip (pictured) and Michael Sears. Their award-winning mysteries, featuring Detective Kubu, are set in Botswana. Death of the Mantis was an Edgar finalist and Deadly Harvest was an International Thriller Writers award finalist. The eighth Detective Kubu mystery, A Deadly Covenant, will be released…
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…
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.