Poetry

Poetry writers from Minnesota.

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Janna Knittel

Janna Knittel is from the Pacific Northwest and has lived in Minnesota since 2004. Her book, Real Work, was a 2023 Minnesota Book Award finalist. Knittel’s work includes the chapbook Fish & Wild Life and poems in Blueline, Breakwater Review, Conduit, Constellations, North Dakota Quarterly, Pleiades, Whale Road Review, and The Wild Word, among other…

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Maya Washington

Maya Washington is an award-winning multi-hyphenate artist: writer, poet, director, narrative and documentary filmmaker (writer/director/producer), actress, creative director, visualist (photography), and arts educator. Her award-winning film, Through the Banks of the Red Cedar, about her father, Vikings football legend Gene Washington, premiered on PBS in 2022. Her memoir, Through the Banks of the Red Cedar:…

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Holly Day

Holly Day has worked as a freelance writer for over 30 years, with more than 7,000 published articles, poems, and short stories and 40 books and chapbooks, including the nonfiction books Music Theory for Dummies, Music Composition for Dummies, Walking Twin Cities, Stillwater Minnesota: A Brief History, and History Lover’s Guide to Minneapolis. Her work…

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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…

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Jeanne Lutz

Jeanne Lutz is the author of the poetry collection Until the Kingdom Comes. She grew up on a small dairy farm in southern Minnesota, attended the National University of Ireland Galway, and spent two years in Japan. In addition to having her poetry supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation, the…

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Antony Plocido

Antony Plocido is a writer from the Twin Cities in Minnesota. He has honed his craft both in the Twin Cities and in Kansas City, MO. Plocido has published four books of poetry: Sucker Punch Wisdom, Aging and Other Side Projects, Felt This So Many Times, and his latest book, The Conflict that Creates. Plocido…

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Sonia Greenfield

Sonia Greenfield (she/they) is the author of two collections of poetry, All Possible Histories and Helen of Troy is High AF. She is the author of Letdown, American Parable, and Boy with a Halo at the Farmer’s Market. Her work has appeared in the 2018 and 2010 Best American Poetry, Southern Review, Willow Springs, and…

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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…

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Mairead Small Staid

Mairead Small Staid is the author of The Traces. Born and raised in Massachusetts, she is a graduate of Pomona College and the University of Michigan, where she won Hopwood Awards in poetry and nonfiction. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and Phillips Exeter Academy, where she was the 2017-2018…

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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…