Minnesota

WRITERS

DIRECTORY

Featured Writers

David Nash

David Nash is an author and singer songwriter known for his warm, rhythmic, and heartfelt style. He plays in and around the Driftless Region of his home in La Crescent, Minnesota. In early 2023 he released the audiobook version of his first novel, The Man in the Pines, and his…

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Sarah Ghazal Ali

Sarah Ghazal Ali is a Pakistani American writer. She is the author of the poetry collection Theophanies, winner of the GLCA New Writers Award and a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and Minnesota Book Award. She has been awarded The Sewanee Review Poetry Prize, and her poems have…

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Nicole Kronzer

Nicole Kronzer is the author of the young adult novels Unscripted and the forthcoming The Roof Over Our Heads. Unscripted was named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association and was a Minnesota Book Award Finalist. Kronzer is also a high school English teacher and former…

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Molly Beth Griffin

Molly Beth Griffin is the author of several picture books including Ten Beautiful Things, Rhoda’s Rock Hunt, and The Big Leaf Leap, as well as the award-winning young adult novel Silhouette of a Sparrow. Griffin was the recipient of the 2014 McKnight Artist Fellowship in Children’s Literature along with two Minnesota Arts Board grants. Griffin…

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Dobby Gibson

Dobby Gibson is the author of Polar, which won the Alice James Award, Skirmish, and It Becomes You, which was shortlisted for the Believer Poetry Award. All three books were finalists for the Minnesota Book Award. Gibson’s poems and essays have appeared in American Poets, American Poetry Review, Conduit, Denver Quarterly, Fence, Gulf Coast, Iowa Review, jubilat, New England Review, and Ploughshares,…

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Rachael Hanel

Rachael Hanel is a nonfiction writer and the author of Not the Camilla We Knew: One Woman’s Path from Small-town America to the Symbionese Liberation Army, forthcoming in Fall 2022. She is also the author of We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter. The book was a finalist…

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Michael Hall

Michael Hall is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of My Heart Is Like a Zoo as well as the critically acclaimed Red: A Crayon’s Story, Perfect Square, Frankencrayon, and Little i. Before becoming an author, Hall was a graphic designer whose work was widely known for its simple, engaging approach. Hall lives…

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Erin Hart

Erin Hart writes archaeological crime novels set mainly in the shadowy boglands of Ireland. Haunted Ground won the Friends of American Writers Award, was shortlisted for mystery’s prestigious Anthony and Agatha awards, and was translated into 11 languages. Lake of Sorrows, False Mermaid, and The Book of Killowen have been Minnesota Book Award Finalists. Hart…

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Ellen Hart

Ellen Hart is the author of more than 30 mystery novels. She is the six-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Mystery, the four-time winner of the Minnesota Book Award for Best Genre Fiction, and was recently named a Grand Master, the highest distinction in the mystery writing field, by Mystery Writers…

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Melanie Hoffert

Melanie Hoffert is the author of Prairie Silence, which won the 2014 Minnesota Book Award in Memoir and Creative Nonfiction. She has been published in several literary journals. The Baltimore Review and the New Millennium Writings each selected her work for a Creative Nonfiction Writing Award. She has taught several writing classes, including at the…

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R.W. Holmen

R. W. Holmen is a former trial attorney with an eye for history and a heart for social justice. A Wretched Man remembers Paul the Apostle, and Wormwood and Gall (a Midwest Book Award finalist) fictionalizes Mark, the author of the first gospel. Queer Clergy (a Minnesota Book Award finalist) recounts the struggle for queer…

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.