Literary Fiction
Literary Fiction writers from Minnesota.
Kathleen Novak
Kathleen Novak is a poet and writer who grew up on the iron mining range of northern Minnesota, the granddaughter of Italian and Croatian immigrants. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, she is the author of the highly praised novels Rare Birds, a NEMBA nominee, and Do Not Find Me, a finalist for the…
David Oppegaard
David Oppegaard is the author of Claw Heart Mountain, The Town Built on Sorrow, The Firebug of Balrog County, The Suicide Collectors, And the Hills Opened Up, and Wormwood, Nevada. He is also the author of the novella Breakneck Cove. Oppegaard’s work is a blend of horror, literary fiction, science fiction, and dark fantasy. He…
Kaethe Schwehn
Kaethe Schwehn is the author of the post-apocalyptic novel The Rending and the Nest, the poetry collection Tanka & Me, and a memoir, Tailings. Her poems and prose can be found in journals such as Crazyhorse, Pleiades, jubilat, Witness, Minnesota Review, and the anthology Fiction on a Stick. She has been the recipient of a…
Heather A. Slomski
Heather Slomski is the author of The Lovers Set Down Their Spoons, winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award and a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. She received her MFA from Western Michigan University and held the Axton Fellow in Fiction at the University of Louisville. A recipient of a Minnesota State Artist Initiative…
Sarah Stonich
Beginning with Vacationland, Stonich’s Northern Trilogy continued in September 2018 with the release of Laurentian Divide, winner of the Minnesota Book Award. Both have been chosen as community reads in a dozen cities. These Granite Islands was a Barnes & Noble Great New Writers pick with multiple translations, as was The Ice Chorus. Her Fishing…
Rachel L. Coyne
Rachel Coyne, a novelist and poet, is a graduate of the Perpich Center for Arts in Minnesota and Macalester College. She is a devotee of Pablo Neruda, a lover of Don Williams songs, and collects vintage editions of Jane Eyre. Her published works include the novels The Patron Saint of Lost Comfort Lake and Whiskey…
Beth Dooley
Beth Dooley has been writing about the Northern Heartland for over 20 years. She is the author of six books, including Minnesota Book Award finalist In Winter’s Kitchen. Her column, “Seasonal Kitchen,” appears weekly in the Star Tribune, and she contributes regularly to Minnesota Public Radio’s “Appetites.” Dooley is the co-author with Sean Sherman of…
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 translated into four languages. Her…
A. Rafael Johnson
A. Rafael Johnson writes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His first novel, The Through, was a 2018 finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. His second book, Creative Evaluation & Engagement: Essentials, demonstrates how to create sustainable change. Johnson is a fellow at Kimbilio Fiction, an organization supporting African American writers. His writing has appeared in Callaloo, African…
Thomas Maltman
Thomas Maltman’s essays, poetry, and fiction have been published in many literary journals. He has an MFA from Minnesota State University, Mankato. His first novel, The Night Birds, won an Alex Award, a Spur Award, and the Friends of American Writers Literary Award. In 2009 the American Library Association chose The Night Birds as an…