Middle Grade
Middle Grade writers from Minnesota.
Annette Gagliardi
Annette Gagliardi is a poet whose work has appeared in literary journals in Canada, England, and the US. Her first full-length poetry collection, titled A Short Supply of Viability, was published through The Poetry Box. Gagliardi notices the intricate details of lives lived around her. She notices the dimensions of nature, time, and the human…
Karen Latchana Kenney
Karen Latchana Kenney is an Indian-Irish author and editor, born near the equator in Guyana, and raised far north in Minnesota. She’s lived in New Amsterdam, Toronto, Minneapolis, Dublin, Maynooth, Oregon, and Rhode Island, and visited many more places on far-flung adventures. She first got lost in books as a child and hoped one day…
Michael MacBride
Originally from Michigan, Michael MacBride now calls Minnesota home. He has delivered newspapers, worked for UPS, delivered pizzas, done collections at a bank, was a roadie for a country band, and was a grant-writer and funder-researcher for non-profits. He also taught English, Literature, and Humanities courses at universities and colleges in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio,…
William Durbin
William Durbin lives on Lake Vermilion at the edge of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Wilderness. A winner of the Great Lakes Book Award and a two-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award, he has published 14 novels for young readers, including, The Broken Blade, Wintering, Blackwater Ben, Song of Sampo Lake, The Darkest Evening, Dead Man’s…
Payal Doshi
Payal Doshi has a Master’s in Creative Writing (Fiction) from The New School, New York. Having lived in the UK and US, she noticed a lack of Indian protagonists in global children’s fiction and one day wrote the opening paragraph to what would become her first children’s novel. She was born and raised in Mumbai,…
Julie Schumacher
Julie Schumacher is the author of 11 books, including the national bestseller Dear Committee Members, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor. She has published five novels for younger readers, including The Book of One Hundred Truths, winner of a Minnesota Book Award; and a satirical coloring book about higher education called Doodling for…
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…
Bonnie Graves
Author of children’s books, both fiction and non-fiction, and professional books on teaching reading, Bonnie Graves spent her growing-up years in Southern California. There she romped through childhood with her boy cousins and their pals and in her preteen years wrote and produced plays for family and neighbors. A former elementary school teacher, her work…
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.…
Rosemond Owens
Rosemond Sarpong Owens loves the Lord, loves people, loves life, and loves to laugh. She is a storyteller with an infectious enthusiasm about life. She attended Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast, Ghana, the University of Ghana, and University of Minnesota. Across the globe, she has developed a rainbow coalition – an amazing tribe…