Featured Writers
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…
Keenan Jones
Keenan Jones, an author in Plymouth, Minnesota, grew up in Gary, Indiana and south suburban Chicago. Coming from a family of educators, pastors, athletes, and musicians, he shifted to education after a college basketball injury, working as an elementary teacher before returning to writing. Jones believes literacy can inspire youth…
Paula Cisewski
Paula Cisewski’s fourth poetry collection, Quitter, won the Diode Editions Book Prize. She is also the author of The Threatened Everything, Ghost Fargo (Nightboat Poetry Prize winner, selected by Franz Wright), Upon Arrival, and several chapbooks, including the lyric prose Misplaced Sinister. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from…
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Swati Avasthi
Swati Avasthi (SWA-thee Of-US-thee) started writing when she was five, but she took a serpentine career path (working as domestic violence legal coordinator, law student, theater director, and stage manager) before she returned to writing. Her first book, Split, received the International Reading Association Award, Cybils Award, and has been translated into four languages. Her…
Caitlin Bailey
Caitlin Bailey received an MFA from Hamline University. Her first book, Solve for Desire, won the 2017 Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry and was a finalist for the 2017 Minnesota Book Awards. Her poems have appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Sugar House Review, Bateau, Carolina Quarterly, and elsewhere. She lives in Saint Paul.
A. Rafael Johnson
A. Rafael Johnson writes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His first novel, The Through, was a 2018 finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. His second book, Creative Evaluation & Engagement: Essentials, demonstrates how to create sustainable change. Johnson is a fellow at Kimbilio Fiction, an organization supporting African American writers. His writing has appeared in Callaloo, African…
Todd Boss
Todd Boss is a poet, librettist, public artist, and film producer. His diverse career is the result of his passion for collaboration. He is the author of three books of poetry, Yellowrocket, Pitch, and Tough Luck. His poems have appeared in Poetry, The London Times, The New Yorker, and Best American Poetry. Boss says he…
Thomas Maltman
Thomas Maltman’s essays, poetry, and fiction have been published in many literary journals. He has an MFA from Minnesota State University, Mankato. His first novel, The Night Birds, won an Alex Award, a Spur Award, and the Friends of American Writers Literary Award. In 2009 the American Library Association chose The Night Birds as an…
Jon Lurie
Jon Lurie is the author of the memoir Canoeing with José and coauthor, with Clyde Bellecourt, of The Thunder Before the Storm, a Minnesota Book Award finalist. Lurie has worked as a wilderness guide, a teen mentor at a Native American journalism program, and an editor at the Anchorage Press and The Rake. A graduate of…
Dore Kiesselbach
Dore Kiesselbach earned his B.A. from Oberlin College, MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, and J.D. from New York University. He has published two collections of poetry – Albatross and Salt Pier. His work has appeared in many magazines including FIELD, Poetry, AGNI, and The Poetry Review. His honors include the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize,…
Caren B. Stelson
Caren Stelson is a Minneapolis writer for children and young adults, with a passion for nonfiction. Her work explores stories that struggle with issues of war and peace. Sachiko: A Nagasaki Bomb Survivor’s Story is such a book, revealing the horrors of nuclear war and Sachiko Yasui’s long arc toward peace. Stelson visited Nagasaki, Japan…
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.
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.