Minnesota Authors

"The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn't fit among them. For Violet Hart-whose family is about to move into the house on Katydid Street-very little felt like it fit anymore. Like their old home, suddenly too small since her mother remarried and the new baby arrived. Or Violet's group of friends, which, since they started middle school, isn't enough for Violet's best friend, Paige. Everything seemed to be changing at once. But sometimes, Violet tells herself, change is okay. That is, until Violet sees her new room. The attic bedroom in their new house is shadowy, creaky, and wrapped in old yellow wallpaper covered with a faded tangle of twisting vines and sickly flowers. And then, after moving in, Violet falls ill-and does not get better. As days turn into weeks without any improvement, her family growing more confused and her friends wondering if she's really sick at all, she finds herself spending more time alone in the room with the yellow wallpaper, the shadows moving in the corners, wrapping themselves around her at night. And soon, Violet starts to suspect that she might not be alone in the room at all"--

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other's out, and they'll both go on to find the love of their lives. It's a bonkers idea... and it just might work. Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka. It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

This collection is a powerful reckoning with violence, shame, and easy pessimism in which Smith relies on artistic resilience to envision futures that seem possible.

"Following the extraordinary life story of James "Cornbread" Harris, Deeper Blues is a unique history of Minnesota music that evolves into a heartfelt tale of reconciliation and forgiveness, all to the tune of the legendary musician's signature sound. A rich mix of present-day anecdotes and historical vignettes, and featuring never-before-seen photographs of Cornbread and Jimmy Jam, Deeper Blues tells a singular story-one imprinted on the history, heart, and soul of the Minneapolis Sound"--

Being published August 20th, 2024.

Being published September 19th, 2023.

Mariel Prager needs a break. Her husband Ned is having an identity crisis, her spunky, beloved restaurant is bleeding money by the day, and her mother Florence is stubbornly refusing to leave the church where she’s been holed up for more than a week. The Lakeside Supper Club has been in her family for decades, and while Mariel’s grandmother embraced the business, seeing it as a saving grace, Florence never took to it. When Mariel inherited the restaurant, skipping Florence, it created a rift between mother and daughter that never quite healed. Ned is also an heir--to a chain of home-style diners--and while he doesn't have a head for business, he knows his family's chain could provide a better future than his wife's fading restaurant. In the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, Ned and Mariel lose almost everything they hold dear, and the hard-won victories of each family hang in the balance. With their dreams dashed, can one fractured family find a way to rebuild despite their losses, and will the Lakeside Supper Club be their salvation? (8/7)

When Pastor Mallory learns her church is broke, the young, bold minister brainstorms fundraising ideas with volunteers and decides to put out a book of recipes to heat up relationships instead of casseroles.

"A comprehensive study of the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, related in two-year chapters by twenty-three leading writers on the Jazz Age author 'There never was a good biography of a novelist,' F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in The Crack-Up. 'There couldn't be. He is too many people, if he's any good.' Fitzgerald, a good novelist by any measure, has tested this challenge to the biographer's art. A new star illuminating the literary scene; a chronicler of the Jazz Age in all its brilliance and tarnish; a romantic symbol of the American century; an acute observer of society's best and worst, and of his own star-crossed career; a midlife burnout at forty-four, leaving an unfinished masterpiece in his wake-he was a man of many aspects, a writer whose complexity and multitudes this composite biography finally aptly portrays. Bringing together twenty-three leading writers and scholars on Fitzgerald, each focusing on two years of his life, this volume takes its cue from Henry James's remark, cited by preeminent Fitzgerald biographer Scott Donaldson: 'The whole of anything is never told; you can only take what groups together.' F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Composite Biography presents a new way of 'grouping together' biographical material and perspectives, considering from various angles the author's best-known works as well as understudied writings, including neglected stories and forays into autobiography such as 'What I Think and Feel at 25' and 'How to Live on $36,000 a Year.' The glamor and fame that made F. Scott and Zelda mythic figures of their time appear here alongside the personal experiences that he occasionally included in his writing: the beginnings as well as the poignant end; the literary relationships that informed and framed his work, set against solitary effort, fame, and failures. This remarkable study of F. Scott Fitzgerald, by twenty-three experts, reflects the multifaceted whole of a 'life in many parts' in new and revelatory ways "--

The Roy and Shawano families have been inextricably intertwined for generations and, unbeknownst to them, the mysterious Antelope Woman is a part of their fierce and haunting history. This novel illuminates how that history affects the contemporary descendants of these families who are the products of two cultures, Ojibwe and white, which sit in uneasy relationship to one another.

"Here is the story of Jon Hassler's early years. His poignant remembrance of family and friends, of youthful calamities and triumphs, show what shaped him and opened his path to become one of Minnesota's best-loved and iconic writers. Memoirs are written from the vantage point of age. Here, his close examination of memory--what endures and why--unfold the pivotal moments of his growing up. Family, friends, new neighborhoods and old, questions of faith and doubt--all had deep meaning, he comes to see."--

At 11:34 a.m. one Saturday in August 2019, Boyd Halverson strode into Community National Bank in northern California. "How much is on hand, would you say?" he asked the teller. "I'll want it all." "You're robbing me?" "Not you," Boyd replied, revealing a Temptation .38 Special. Angie Bing, the teller, scraped together $81,000. Boyd stuffed the cash into a paper grocery bag. "I'm sorry about this," he said, "but I'll have to ask you to take a ride with me" So begins the adventure of Boyd Halverson--star journalist turned notorious online disinformation troll turned JC Penney manager--and his irrepressible hostage, Angie Bing. Haunted by his past and weary of his present, Boyd has one goal before the authorities catch up with him: settle a score with the man who destroyed his life. By Monday Boyd and Angie reach Mexico; by winter, they are in a lakefront mansion in Minnesota. On their trail are hitmen, jealous lovers, ex-cons, an heiress, a billionaire shipping tycoon, a three-tour veteran of Iraq, and the ghosts of Boyd's past. Everyone, it seems, except the police.

In the tourist town of Wharton, on the coast of Lake Superior, Tess Bell is renovating her old family home into a bed-and-breakfast during the icy dead of winter. As the house's restoration commences, a shuttered art studio is revealed. Inside are paintings Tess's late grandfather, beloved and celebrated artist Sebastian Bell, hid away for generations. But these appear to be the works of a twisted mind, almost unrecognizable as paintings she and others familiar with his art would expect. The sinister canvases raise disturbing questions for Tess, sparking nightmares and igniting in her an obsession to unearth the truth around their origins. What evil has been locked away for so many years?

Jeremiah just wants a normal summer with his dad, but it's clear that isn't happening. His dad just moved to an apartment near downtown Minneapolis to live with his new boyfriend, Michael. Michael wears shorts too short, serves weird organic foods, and is constantly nagging Jeremiah to watch out for potholes and to stay hydrated. Worst of all Michael rides the Uni-cycle. Okay, it's a bicycle decorated to look like a unicorn! This is going to be a long summer!

Midwestern movie house owner Virgil Wander is "cruising along at medium altitude" when his car flies off the road into icy Lake Superior. Virgil survives but his language and memory are altered and he emerges into a world no longer familiar to him. Awakening in this new life, Virgil begins to piece together his personal history and the lore of his broken town, with the help of a cast of affable and curious locals--from Rune, a twinkling, pipe-smoking, kite-flying stranger investigating the mystery of his disappeared son; to Nadine, the reserved, enchanting wife of the vanished man; to Tom, a journalist and Virgil's oldest friend; and various members of the Pea family who must confront tragedies of their own. Into this community returns a shimmering prodigal son who may hold the key to reviving their town.

A four-year-old boy demonstrates what a good teacher his big sister is during her tap dancing class and garners praise for them both.

A neurodivergent ticket agent struggling with his ended marriage, a willful teenager searching for truth about her past, and a teacher harboring a painful regret: each passes through the Wisconsin train station one Friday in 1970. Their encounters, though seemingly serendipitous, are far from accidental; yet none of them realizes how deeply their lives have been shaped by one another.