Children’s Picture Book
Writers of Children's Picture Books from Minnesota.
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…
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…
Bridget Reistad
Bridget Reistad is an educator and librarian who has worked in K-12, public, and academic libraries for nearly 30 years. A licensed high school English instructor and K-12 Media Specialist, she engages audiences through customized presentations.
Nick Healy
Nick Healy writes fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. His short story collection, It Takes You Over, was a Friends of American Writers award winner and a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award in 2013. His stories have appeared in North American Review, Water~Stone Review, Speakeasy, Minnesota Monthly, Great River Review, and elsewhere. He…
Cristina Oxtra
Cristina Oxtra is a Filipino American children’s book author. She earned an MFA in creative writing for children and young adults at Hamline University and a B.A. in journalism. She received The Loft Literary Center’s 2019-2020 Mirrors & Windows Fellowship for indigenous writers and writers of color and is a teaching artist at The Loft.…
Kevin Kunkel
Kevin Kunkel believes people are fundamentally good and altruistic and that education and community are the keys to unlocking the best in everybody. He hopes his books contribute to making our planet a better place. Kunkel is allergic to cats and dogs but pets aren’t necessary. His two boys (age 2 and newborn) fill the…
V.T. Bidania
V.T. Bidania is the author of the Astrid and Apollo chapter book series, which is the first children’s book series to star Hmong American characters. She was born in Laos and grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, right where Astrid and Apollo live! She has an MFA in creative writing from the New School and…
Mélina Mangal
Mélina Mangal’s work has been published by Milkweed Editions, Coffee House Press, W.W. Norton, and Carolina Wren Press. She is the author of five biographies for youth, including The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just, winner of the Carter G. Woodson Award. Her latest book, Jayden’s Impossible Garden, won the first Strive/Free…
Mary Bleckwehl
Mary Bleckwehl has spent her career promoting literacy and the love of learning. She taught for over 25 years and held administrative positions in higher education in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Minnesota. Bleckwehl grew up in a large farm family and quickly learned magic and grabbed every opportunity to read. Bleckwehl has three adult…