Featured Writers
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,…
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John Coy
John Coy is the author of young adult novels, the 4 for 4 middle-grade series, and nonfiction and fiction picture books including Night Driving, Two Old Potatoes and Me, Hoop Genius, Game Changer, Their Great Gift, and My Mighty Journey: A Waterfall’s Story. He has received numerous awards for his…
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Swati Avasthi
Swati Avasthi (SWA-thee Of-US-thee) started writing when she was five, but she took a serpentine career path (working as domestic violence legal coordinator, law student, theater director, and stage manager) before she returned to writing. Her first book, Split, received the International Reading Association Award, Cybils Award, and has been…
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Edith Karras
Edith Marie Karras has been taking pictures for more than 30 years and has lived in Minneapolis since 1985. Over the decades she has participated in numerous art fairs and shows and currently is an artist member and board member of Vine Arts Center. Karras uses her photographs to create ceramic tiles, posters, scarves, canvas…
Andrea Gilats
Andrea (Andy) Gilats is a Minnesota writer, educator, artist, and former yoga teacher who holds a Ph.D. in multicultural American studies from the Union Institute and University and a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Minnesota. She spent more than three decades creating and leading lifelong learning programs at the University of…
Heidi Barr
Heidi Barr is a writer and wellness coach whose work is founded on a commitment to cultivating ways of being that are life-giving and sustainable for people, communities, and the planet. She is the author of two works of creative nonfiction: Woodland Manitou and What Comes Next; two poetry collections: Slouching toward Radiance and Cold…
Daniel E. Van Tassel
Author of Back to Barron, a chronicle of growing up in small-town-and-rural mid-century America, Daniel E. Van Tassel graduated from St. Olaf College and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Iowa. He taught at Pacific Lutheran University, California State University San Marcos, and Muskingum College. His scholarly publications include articles on…
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…
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.