Literary Fiction
Literary Fiction writers from Minnesota.
Lori O’Dea
Lori O’Dea is a fiction writer, literary critic, and gallerist living in Chicago and Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. She is the author of the literary novella Little Cavendish. Her work appears in The Massachusetts Review, The Gay & Lesbian Review, LIBER, Bridge, Rain Taxi, and other publications. She is a graduate of St. John’s College, Santa…
Jeff Sauve
Jeffrey M. Sauve is an award-winning Minnesota writer and historian whose work has appeared in regional magazines, historical society publications, and museum programs. A former archivist at St. Olaf College and for the Norwegian-American Historical Association (NAHA), he is the author of two true-crime histories: Wheels of Murder: The 1896 Bank Robbery That Shocked a…
Marique Moss
Marique Moss is an Afro Indigenous (Hidatsa and African American) author, poet, educator, and herbalist from Minneapolis, MN. An enrolled citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, she writes about identity, healing, history, and belonging through an Afro Indigenous lens. She is the author of Sweetgrass and Soul Food: A Memoir in Poems, Sweetgrass…
Betty Brandt Passick
Betty Brandt Passick is a multi-award-winning author of a gangster series, which began with the story of Louie La Cava, a Chicago mobster who came to her hometown of Fairbank, Iowa (called ‘Oxbow’ in the novels) in the early 1920s, where he remained on and off for the next 60 years. Gangster in Our Midst,…
Lynn Garthwaite
Lynn Garthwaite is the author of 11 books, including mysteries, non-fiction, and children’s early chapter books. She has short stories in four anthologies and is working with a producer on the pre-production of a limited series for her mystery/thriller novel Starless Midnight. Garthwaite also writes screenplays and is working to adapt her children’s series into…
Emilio DeGrazia
Emilio DeGrazia, from Winona, is a writer, teacher, and editor. In 1977 he founded Great River Review, now with the University of Minnesota. His first short story collection, Enemy Country, was followed by a novel, Billy Brazil. Then came more stories, Seventeen Grams of Soul, the novel A Canticle for Bread and Stones, essay collections…
Kristi Belcamino
Kristi Belcamino is a USA Today bestselling crime writer, chess fanatic, and newspaper crime reporter. Her gritty, glamorous thrillers—like the Gia Santella and Queen of Spades series—feature kick-butt women, deadly secrets, and high-stakes revenge. Think Jackie Collins meets Patricia Cornwell. As a reporter, she has flown in an FA/18 jet with the Blue Angels, interviewed…
Damone Bester
Damone Bester is a two-time award-winning author whose debut novel Mendel received both a BookFest Award and a Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Fiction. His highly anticipated sequel, Blue Smoke Rises, releases in 2026. Known for bold storytelling that blends emotional depth with social insight, Bester teaches writers how to develop authentic voice, build compelling…
Dave Kenney
Dave Kenney is the author of nearly two dozen books, all historical non-fiction, covering topics ranging from World War II to the movie industry. Two of them won the Minnesota Book Award. His previous career in journalism included stints as a local television reporter and as a writer with CNN. He lives in Roseville, Minnesota,…
Andrew Kantar
Born and raised in Minneapolis, Andy Kantar is the author of a trilogy of Great Lakes shipwreck books written primarily for young adults. His first book, 29 Missing, was a Michigan Notable Book for Young Adults. Black November was a finalist for the Foreword Book of the Year (YA nonfiction) and the major source for…