Greetings from Read Minnesota Books! I met many readers and writers at Rain Taxi’s Twin Cities Book Festival yesterday. If you’re new here, thanks for signing up for this newsletter! If you’ve subscribed to Read Minnesota Books for awhile, I appreciate you!
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Since Read Minnesota Books Season 2 began in September, I’ve interviewed many authors about their recently published Minnesota books. As our Minnesota evenings get dark earlier and the holiday lights go up, I’m realizing that I can’t record an episode for every book I’ve read or plan to read. There are simply too many Minnesota books for one independent podcast host to cover, so these occasional newsletters let me highlight fantastic new publications. Here are some reading recommendations for the end of 2026:
Har Mar by Hilal Isler
Har Mar! It’s a mall in Roseville threatened with demolition. It’s the stage name of a disgraced Minnesota pop personality. And now it’s a book of short stories by Hilal Isler, a writer who used to live in Minnesota. In the story “Har Mar,” the main character becomes a reader at the Har Mar bookstore, where she later takes a dead-end job and meets a romantic interest. Isler spoke about the book on The Loft Lit podcast in September.
Black Arts by Megan Giddings
Like ghosts? You’ll enjoy Black Arts, a spooky speculative short story collection by Megan Giddings. Giddings is a University of Minnesota professor and author of three novels: Lakewood, The Women Could Fly, and Meet Me at the Crossroads. Giddings spoke about her writing process, her creative vision, and the difference between writing short stories and novels on The Loft Lit podcast.
Mia by Leslie Bazzett
Leslie Bazzett’s novel Mia takes place in Mexico, where two expats develop an unhealthy friendship. From the publisher: “A taut, beguiling work of psychological suspense, Mia is a mother-daughter story turned on its head and a high-intensity fable about the limitations of playing a role that is not your own.” Bazzett was recently on the Writer’s Bone podcast, talking about how her fiction led to a screenplay assignment, and the long road to publishing Mia.
Cloudwatcher by Michael Bazzett
Yes, another Bazzett—they’re married! In March, I went to a Magers & Quinn event, where Michael Bazzett was in conversation with Maggie Smith about her latest collection Suit or Suitcase. I went for Maggie, but left with a copy of Bazzett’s Cloudwatcher. Listening to him read his poem “Autobiography of a Poet” was one of the most delightful literary experiences of my entire year.
Don’t Be Afraid to Be Bad: A Big Book of Button Poetry Writing Prompts Edited by Ollie Schminkey
Also poetry related: I am not a poet, not at all! But I bought a copy of Ollie Schminkey’s Don’t Be Afraid to Be Bad because 1. what a great title! and 2. every writer can benefit from writing prompts, across genre. The book contains poems by contemporary poets, all paired with an exercise intended to inspire an “After” poem—a poem directly inspired by an existing poem. But, as Schminkey writes in the introduction, you can use the book however you want. Read the poems. Write “After” poems from the prompts. Or use the prompts as creative exercises.
The Art of Falling Apart by Steven Lawrence Lang
This debut novel, which won the 2026 StoryTrade Award for Best Contemporary Fiction, was recommended to me by Kate St. Vincent Vogl, an instructor at The Loft Literary Center, where I’ve been her student. I drafted this newsletter earlier in the week, and then Steven was my next door table neighbor at the book fair! So fun. He spoke about The Art of Falling Apart on KFAI’s Write On! Radio program. You can listen to the episode on the KFAI website or wherever you listen to podcasts.
The Vision Through My Lens: My Life In Basketball and Beyond by Natasha Howard
Minnesota Lynx star Natasha Howard wrote The Vision Through My Lens, a memoir about growing up poor, demanding a spot on a boys’ basketball team, and ascending to the WNBA, where she’s been a three-time champion. Howard spoke about the book in an interview on Minnesota Public Radio in September.
The St. Paul Phantom: The Gibbons Brothers’ Fight for Glory by Gerard Gibbons
This one reminds me of my recent conversation with Matt Goldman about Prohibited, and how he was inspired by some family lore and turned it into a novel. The St. Paul Phantom is a similar, but a nonfiction deep dive into author Gerard Gibbons’ family history. More than one hundred years ago, the Gibbons brothers were boxing champions from St. Paul, and this heavily researched book tells their story.
Maude by Helen Electrie Lindsay
Quite possibly the most adorable cover of the year, right? Maude is a slim, heartwarming memoir set in Dinkytown’s yesteryear. Author Helen Lindsay recalls her time as a University of Minnesota student, moving into a boardinghouse run by an elegant landlady, and the years-long friendship that followed.
Aren’t Minnesota books the best?
Mia has been on my list!!! Looks so so good