Literary Fiction
Literary Fiction writers from Minnesota.
Gene Stark
Gene Stark writes fiction, non-fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and has written a children’s book. His writing is local, rural, and outdoors-oriented. Minnesota and local interest predominate his writing. Stark’s audience is comprised of the folks who live and work in Flyover Country. He has been a teacher, farmer, and a grower and propagator of native…
Carol Masters
Carol Masters is the author of Dear Descendent, poems; the biography You Can’t Do That: Mary Davidov, Nonviolent Revolutionary (finalist for the 2010 Midwest Independent Publishers Award), and The Peace Terrorist, short stories (1994 winner of MN Voices Project). She has been part of a Loft Mentor series and a Loft-McKnight winner. Her poems and…
Barton Sutter
Bart Sutter is the only writer to win the Minnesota Book Award in three different categories: poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Among other honors, he has won a Bush Foundation Fellowship, a Jerome Foundation Travel & Study Grant (Sweden), a Loft-McKnight Award, and the Bassine Citation from the Academy of American Poets. In 2006, he…
Barbara Schlichting
Barbara Schlichting has been writing for as long as she can remember. “My grandpa gave me a pen and tablet when I was about ten, and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” says Schlicting. “My pen pal of 55 years is really the one who kept me writing and using my imagination. We…
Frank Weber
Frank Weber is a forensic psychologist who completes assessments in homicide and sexual assault cases. He is the recipient of the MCA President’s Award for his forensic work. His work has ranged from assessing murderers chained to a prison basement floor to providing therapy for wealthy professionals who’ve engaged in multiple affairs. In addition to…
Joanne Vruno
Joanne Vruno grew up in Maplewood, Minnesota, just houses away from Battle Creek Regional Park, where she spent most of her childhood days hiking and exploring. Her love for nature and the wooded parkland bordering Battle Creek created the magic of the Seasons of Elves series, just as her love for the lakes created her…
Jill Kalz
Jill Kalz is the author of The Winter Bees: Fiction, a collection of interconnected short stories set in rural Minnesota (her current home) and a 2019 Midwest Book Award finalist. She has published stories individually in American Fiction Vol. 15 and Minnesota Monthly, and poetry in the Nebraska Review, the Ohio Review, Cream City Review,…
Elliott Foster
Elliott Foster is the award-winning author of Panic River, the first volume in a trilogy. The second volume, Reckoning Waves, was named Best Gay Fiction at the 2022 San Francisco Book Festival. His other works include Retrieving Isaac & Jason and Whispering Pines: Tales From a Northwoods Cabin, a 2016 Indie Next finalist for Best…
Elizabeth Oness
Elizabeth Oness is a poet and fiction writer who lives on a biodynamic farm in Southeast Minnesota. Her poems and stories have appeared in The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, Glimmer Train, The Hudson Review, and other magazines. Her stories have received an O. Henry Prize, a Nelson Algren Award, and the Crazyhorse Fiction Prize.…
