Featured Writers
Matthew Eicheldinger
Matt Eicheldinger wasn’t always a writer. He spent most of his childhood playing soccer, reading comics, and trying his best to stay out of trouble. Little did he know those moments would ultimately help craft his first middle grade novel. Eicheldinger lives in Minnesota with his wife and two children…
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Sally Franson
Sally Franson is the author of A Lady’s Guide to Selling Out, named a “New and Notable” by Entertainment Weekly and shortlisted for a Minnesota Book Award. Her short stories, essays, reportage, and humor pieces have appeared in The Guardian, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Best American Travel Writing, PopSugar, The Progressive, Signature…
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Kirstin Cronn-Mills
Kirstin Cronn-Mills is a writer and teacher who lives in North Mankato with her family. She’s published both fiction and nonfiction for young adult readers. Three of her books have been finalists for the Minnesota Book Awards. Her novel, Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, won the American Library Association’s Stonewall…
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Toni Halleen
Toni Halleen worked for many years as an employment law attorney. She won a Mentor Prize in Fiction from the Loft Literary Center, and her short fiction has been published in Structo, Wigleaf, Gravel, the Star Tribune, and elsewhere. She also authored an award-winning musical, “Soulless, Bloodsucking Lawyers” and the novels, The Surrogate and The…
Antonia Felix
Antonia Felix, Ed.D., MFA, is a New York Times bestselling author of nonfiction, fiction, drama, and poetry. Her 25 books include several acclaimed political biographies of women leaders, and she has been a guest speaker at many universities and organizations, including the Woman’s National Democratic Club in Washington, DC., and Robert J. Dole Institute of…
Micah Ruelle
Micah Ruelle is a queer poet from America’s Heartland. They hold an MFA from Texas State University. Their first chapbook, Failure to Merge, was published by Finishing Line Press. Their second chapbook, Clean Getaway, was a semi-finalist for the YesYes Books’ Vinyl Chapbook Competition and a finalist for both the Concrete Wolf & Nine Syllables…
Beth Cato
Beth Cato hails from Hanford, California, but currently writes and bakes cookies in Red Wing, Minnesota. She usually has one or two cats in close orbit. A 2015 Nebula finalist, she is the author of the cozy mystery Cheddar Luck Next Time as well as fantasy like A Thousand Recipes for Revenge. Her short stories…
Sequoia Nagamatsu
Sequoia Nagamatsu is the author of the novel, How High We Go in the Dark, a national bestseller and The New York Times Editors’ Choice, as well as the story collection, Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone. His work has been a finalist for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize and the…
Varla Ventura
Varla Ventura is an author, traveler, rotten botanist, and lover of the strange. She has written several books on bizarre and freaky things, from paranormal women’s history to werewolves and banshees to plants that smell like death. She is a committed supernaturalist, folklorist, and seeker of those shadowy things that scrape at your window in…
Rafael Frumkin
Rafael Frumkin is the author of the novels The Comedown and Confidence and the short story collection Bugsy. Confidence was named a New York Times Editor’s Choice and one of the Washington Post’s 50 Best Books of 2023. Bugsy was longlisted for the 2024 Story Prize. Frumkin’s writing explores themes of identity, duplicity, and the…
Michelle S. Phelps
Michelle S. Phelps is Professor of Sociology and Law at the University of Minnesota. Her research is in the sociology of punishment, focusing in particular on policing, probation, and prisons. Her writing has appeared in public outlets, including The New Republic, The Minnesota Star Tribune, and MinnPost, alongside academic journals, including American Journal of Sociology…
The Minnesota Writers Directory is a project of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library as the Minnesota Center for the Book. The Library of Congress designated The Friends as Minnesota’s Center in 2012, and in that role The Friends promotes reading, literacy, and libraries throughout Minnesota. Learn more >>
How To Get Listed on the Directory
Thanks for your interest! If you live in Minnesota and you meet the Directory Eligibility Criteria, you can apply to be listed. (Before applying, read the Eligibility Criteria.) We will contact you after we’ve reviewed your application.
Criteria for all applicants
- You must live and work in Minnesota. If you live in Minnesota for part of the year, outline your availability in your application.
- You must provide an email address for your profile. (This will not be listed on the website, but it will be used to create a unique contact form linked to your email address.)
- Your county will be listed in the directory. (Street addresses will not be listed.)
- You must meet the Eligibility Criteria (before applying, read the Eligibility Criteria to see if you are eligible for listing).
- You will be accepted at the discretion of the Minnesota Center for the Book.