Memoir / Creative Nonfiction
Memoir and/or Creative Nonfiction writers from Minnesota.
Brett Ortler
Brett Ortler is a writer and an editor from just north of the Twin Cities. He is the author of 10 books, including everything from a poetry collection, Lessons of the Dead, to nonfiction books pertaining to fireflies, mosquitoes, and ship watching on the Great Lakes. His essays, poetry, and articles appear widely, including in…
Mai Neng Moua
Mai Neng Moua is a writer spinning tales of what it means to be Hmong in America. Her memoir is titled The Bride Price: A Hmong Wedding Story. She is the founder of Paj Ntaub Voice, the Hmong literary arts journal where she published more than 200 artists, and the editor of Bamboo Among the…
Will McGrath
Will McGrath is an award-winning writer and journalist based in Minneapolis. His debut, Everything Lost Is Found Again, is a joyous investigation into the southern African kingdom of Lesotho, where he lived for several years. That book won the Disquiet Open Borders Book Prize, as well as the Society of Midlands Authors Award for Biography…
Gayla Marty
Gayla Marty is the author of Memory of Trees: A Daughter’s Story of a Family Farm. She is a writer and editor in Minneapolis interested in culture, agriculture, and history. Marty received the 2019 Torch Prize in Creative Nonfiction from North American Review. She has a BA in journalism and an MFA in creative writing…
Freya Manfred
Freya Manfred has nine collections of poetry. Her sixth collection, Swimming with a Hundred Year Old Snapping Turtle, won the 2009 Midwest Bookseller’s Choice Award for Poetry. Her ninth and most recent collection is Loon in Late November Water. A longtime Midwesterner who has lived on both coasts, her poetry has appeared in over 100…
Connie Lounsbury
Connie Lounsbury is an award-winning author and inspirational speaker who resides in rural Monticello. She has written eight books, mostly historical fiction and memoir, and 34 short stories, mostly inspirational. She has ghostwritten several books and is a frequent contributor to Guideposts magazines and books. She speaks on many subjects, including “How to Write Memoir,”…
JacLynn Herron
JacLynn Herron not only lost her mother to dementia, but also witnessed the strengths and flaws of the eldercare system that was responsible for her mother’s care. Believing in the power of story, Herron crafted her memoir, Singing Solo: In Search of a Voice for Mom, as a cautionary tale about the realities of nursing…
Candace Black
Candace Black grew up in southern California, often on U.S. Marine Corps bases. As a graduate student at the University of Montana, she studied with Richard Hugo and Madeline DeFrees. Her books of poetry include The Volunteer, Whereabouts, and the chapbook Casa Marina. Her nonfiction has appeared in several journals, including Pinyon, Great River Review,…
Tera Girardin
When Tera Girardin’s son received an autism diagnosis, she often reflected on these questions: What if we went beyond autism awareness and started practicing autism admiration? What would happen if we allowed those with autism the space to develop at their own pace, for their ideas to be considered, for their strengths to flourish, and…
Jess Lourey
Jess Lourey writes about secrets. She’s the Amazon Charts bestselling Edgar, Agatha, ITW Thriller, and Lefty-nominated, Anthony-winning author of crime fiction, nonfiction, children’s books, YA adventure, and magical realism. She is a retired professor of creative writing and sociology, a recipient of The Loft’s Excellence in Teaching fellowship, a Psychology Today blogger, and a TEDx…