Nonfiction
Nonfiction writers from Minnesota.
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…
Loren Niemi
Loren Niemi is a author/poet and professional storyteller whose life work has been creating, collecting, performing, teaching, and writing about what it means to be human. His collection of non-traditional “ghost” stories, What Haunts Us, won the 2020 Midwest Book Award for Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy/Paranormal fiction. His most recent book, A Breviary for the Lost, is a…
Lee Ann Landstrom
Lee Ann Landstrom has been an interpretive naturalist and environmental educator since 1980. She is retired from the directorship (27-years) of Eastman Nature Center with the Three Rivers Park District. She was also a youth class instructor at the Science Museum of Minnesota in Saint Paul for nearly 20 years. Landstrom has a B.A. in…
Heidi Barr
Heidi Barr is a writer and wellness coach whose work is founded on a commitment to cultivating ways of being that are life-giving and sustainable for people, communities, and the planet. She is the author of two works of creative nonfiction: Woodland Manitou and What Comes Next; two poetry collections: Slouching toward Radiance and Cold…
Daniel E. Van Tassel
Author of Back to Barron, a chronicle of growing up in small-town-and-rural mid-century America, Daniel E. Van Tassel graduated from St. Olaf College and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Iowa. He taught at Pacific Lutheran University, California State University San Marcos, and Muskingum College. His scholarly publications include articles on…
Jennifer Fernjack
Jennifer Fernjack is an author and keynote speaker. Raised in Cloquet, MN, she currently resides in Spring Park, MN. She received her B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas. Through a medical scare in 2016, she learned that courage doesn’t need to be the absence…
Michael Tisserand
Michael Tisserand’s books include the Eisner Award-winning biography Krazy: George Herriman, A Life in Black and White, an exploration of the “Krazy Kat” cartoonist and his life on the American color line. Other books include the ASCAP-Deems Taylor-winning The Kingdom of Zydeco, the Hurricane Katrina memoir Sugarcane Academy, and My Father When Young, a self-published…
Danny Spewak
Danny Spewak is a journalist, writer, and author with a decade of experience in local broadcast television, including stations in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Buffalo, NY, and mid-Missouri. His first book, From the Gridiron to the Battlefield: Minnesota’s March to a College Football Title and into World War II, was a finalist for the 2022 Minnesota Book…
James Densley
Dr. James Densley is Professor of Criminal Justice at Metro State University and co-founder of The Violence Project Research Center, best known for its work on gun violence prevention. Densley has received global media attention for his work on gangs, criminal networks, violence, and policing. He is the author or co-author of seven books, including…
Said Shaiye
Said Shaiye is an Autistic Somali Writer & Photographer who lives in Minneapolis. He is a 2023 Loft Windows & Mirrors Fellow. His debut book, Are You Borg Now?, was named a 2022 Minnesota Book Award Finalist in Creative Nonfiction & Memoir. He has contributed essays to the anthologies Muslim American Writers at Home and…