Featured Writers
Jennifer Manthey
Jennifer Manthey’s first book, The Fight, was winner of the Trio Award and a finalist for the 2024 Minnesota Book Award. Her work has appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, Poet Lore, Calyx Journal, Palette Poetry, and Best New Poets. She has received support from MVICW and Bread Loaf…
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Jeremy Norton
Jeremy Norton is a proud Washington, DC native. He’s received degrees from two universities in the Boston area despite a thorny relationship with the realm. He has lived in the Colorado mountains, the Tennessee mountains, the Minnesota not-mountains. He taught middle- and high-school literature at the end of the last…
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Jody Lulich
Jody Lulich is a professor of veterinary internal medicine at the University of Minnesota. He is a renowned educator and clinician, has published over 400 scientific manuscripts, and was contributing editor for four medical books. Lulich was winner of the 2015-16 Loft Mentor Series in creative nonfiction. His book, In…
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Matt Rasmussen
Matt Rasmussen is the author of Black Aperture, which won the 2013 Walt Whitman Award, the 2014 Minnesota Book Award for Poetry, and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His poems have been published in The Literary Review, Gulf Coast, Water~Stone Review, Revolver, Paper Darts, Poets.org, and elsewhere. He received a 2014 Pushcart…
Robert Spande
Robert Spande has worked as a 911 dispatcher for Minneapolis 911 for about 19 years. He wrote The Born and the Made over 10 years. When he was finished, he figured how to make a book from YouTube. As the publisher, he submitted his novel to the Minnesota Book Awards, where it became the first…
Gwen Nell Westerman
Gwen Westerman is an award-winning writer and visual artist who lives in southern Minnesota, as did her Dakota ancestors. Her roots are deep in the landscape of the tallgrass prairie and reveal themselves in her writing through the languages and traditions of her family. She is an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and…
Bruce White
Bruce White is a historian and anthropologist who lives in St. Paul. He writes books and articles on early Minnesota and Midwestern history. Through his company Turnstone Historical Research, he consults and does research for Indian tribes and government agencies. He testified in federal court in the landmark 1994 Mille Lacs treaty hunting and fishing…
Nancy O’Brien Wagner
Nancy O’Brien Wagner is a historian and partner at Bluestem Heritage Group, a museum consulting firm. In addition to her consulting work, she works as an independent writer. Her article “Awfully Busy these Days” about the role of Minnesota Red Cross women in France during World War I was a winner of the Solon J.…
Tom Rademacher
Tom Rademacher is an English teacher in Minneapolis. In 2014 he was named Minnesota Teacher of the Year. He teaches writing and has written about education in Education Week, Huffington Post, and Education Post. His debut book, It Won’t Be Easy: An Exceedingly Honest (and Slightly Unprofessional) Love Letter to Teaching, was a Minnesota Book Award finalist…
Lori Sturdevant
Lori Sturdevant retired in January 2019 after 43 years at the Star Tribune, 26 of them as an editorial writer and weekly columnist covering state politics and government. A native of South Dakota, Sturdevant is a graduate of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a member of that institution’s Board of Trustees. She has…
Michael Fridgen
Michael Fridgen loves theme parks, Dolly Parton, baking, Christmas, and playing the piano. His guidebook, Dollywood and Beyond, attained the top spot on Amazon’s list of bestselling books about theme parks, as did his World Traveler’s Guide to Disney. A former elementary school teacher, Fridgen began writing full-time after his first novel, Ruth3:5, was named…
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.