Nonfiction
Nonfiction writers from Minnesota.
Scott Dikkers
Scott Dikkers founded TheOnion.com and co-wrote its bestselling books. Widely regarded as one of the most influential pioneers in comedy, his visionary leadership at The Onion, his groundbreaking comic strip Jim’s Journal, and his multiple top-10 comedy podcasts have earned him millions of fans all over the world. Rolling Stone named him one of its…
John Noltner
A gifted storyteller, John Noltner has worked on four continents, gathering stories of human courage, grace, and resilience. He has produced projects for national magazines, Fortune 500 companies, and non-profit organizations. He is the founder of A Peace of My Mind, a multimedia arts project that uses portraits and personal stories to bridge divides and…
Chris Stedman
Chris Stedman is a writer and professor who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the author of the books IRL and Faitheist. He is also the writer and host of Unread, named one of the best podcasts of 2021 by The Guardian, Vulture, the CBC, and others, and honored by the 2022 Webby Awards. Additionally,…
Liz Heinecke
Liz Heinecke thrives at the intersection of science and the arts. With an undergraduate degree in art, a master’s degree in bacteriology, and 10 years of laboratory research, Heinecke shares her love of science regularly on television, on social media, and in print. Her book, Ecology for Kids: Science Experiments and Activities Inspired by Awesome…
Joe Friedrichs
Journalist and writer Joe Friedrichs lives near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota. His books, Last Entry Point: Stories of Danger and Death in the Boundary Waters and Her Island: The Story of Quetico’s Longest Serving Interior Ranger, focus on in-depth storytelling from the canoe-country wilderness. An environmental and outdoor writer, he…
Pamela Hill Nettleton
Pamela Hill Nettleton is an award-winning writer, editor, playwright, and author. She holds a doctorate in communication and women’s studies and teaches at the University of St. Thomas. Nettleton has 26 books in publication including a biography of Shakespeare and Students Write the Darnedest Things. More than 300 of her essays and features have appeared…
Nate Patrin
Nate Patrin is a St. Paul resident and cultural critic specializing in popular music. Since the late 1990s, his work has appeared in sites and publications including Pitchfork, Stereogum, Spin, Red Bull Music Academy, The Shfl, and City Pages. He is the author of two books: Bring That Beat Back: How Sampling Built Hip-Hop and…
Emily Strasser
Emily Strasser’s first book, Half-Life of a Secret, is a deeply researched memoir that traces her journey to reckon with the toxic legacies of her grandfather’s work building nuclear weapons in the atomic city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Strasser’s work has appeared in Catapult, Ploughshares, Guernica, Colorado Review, The Bitter Southerner, Bulletin of the Atomic…
Pete Kero
Pete Kero is an author, speaker, and environmental engineer. His work focuses on the intersection of people, industry, and the environment. Kero was the visionary behind the award-winning Redhead Mountain Bike Park in Chisholm, Minnesota which has been featured in Outside magazine and the nation-wide documentary film Biketown. His book, Minescapes: Reclaiming Minnesota’s Mined Lands,…
Mary K. Tennis
After a childhood marked by culinary curiosity and travel, Mary Tennis began writing about food in 2001 as a regular columnist in Duluth’s Ripsaw newspaper. Exploring local restaurants and food personalities, Tennis honed a creative voice and a conversational tone over the course of several years. She has also written and performed poetry, musician bios,…