MFA Student and Alumni Book Publications
Our students and alumni do more than hone their craft - they get their work published! Many of the projects that students work on while they are enrolled in the Creative Writing Programs become successful books. These works catch the attention of publishers and critics alike, earning awards and gaining literary recognition.
Visit the "Muse News" page to see news of student and alumni journal/magazine publication news, awards, and accomplishments, beyond book publications.
Below is an extensive, impressive listing of books published by our students since, and sometimes during, their time in the MFA program.
LUCIE AMUNDSON, MFA '14
Locally Laid: How We Built a Plucky, Industry-Changing Egg Farm—From Scratch
Avery, 2016
ELIZABETH J. ANDREW, MFA '97
Writing the Sacred Journey: The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir
Skinner House Books, 2005
On the Threshold: Home, Hardwood, and Holiness
Basic Books, 2005
Swinging on the Garden Gate: A Spiritual Memoir
Skinner House Books, 2000
STEPHANIE WILBUR ASH, MFA '08
The Annie Year
Unnamed Press, 2016
DAVID ATHEY, MFA '01
Hunting and Gathering Heaven
Bellowing Ark Press, 2000
Danny Gospel
Bethany House, 2008
Jane Bedell (as J.M. Bedell), MFA '06
Hildur, Queen of the Elves
Interlink Publishing, 2006
Finding Courage: History's Young Heroes and Their Amazing Deeds
Beyond Words Press, 2004
Eileen Beha, MFA '07
The Secrets of Eastcliff-by-the-Sea: The Story of Annaliese Easterling & Throckmorton, Her Simply Remarkable Sock Monkey
Beach Lane Books, 2014
Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog
Bloomsbury USA Children's, 2009
JOHN D. BESSLER, MFA '05
The Death Penalty as Torture: From the Dark Ages to Abolition
Carolina Academic Press, 2017
Cruel and Unusual: The American Death Penalty and the Founders' Eighth Amendment
Northeastern, 2012
Writing for Life: The Craft of Writing for Everyday Living
Bottlecap Books, 2007
CAROL PEARCE BJORLIE, MFA '01
Behind the Cello
Main Street Rag, 2012
CAROLYN BOEHLKE, MFA '06
Literaria
North Star Press, 2014
Chasing the Moon
North Star Press, 2013
SARA DAILEY, MFA '11
Earlier Lives
Dos Madres Press, 2012
KIRSTEN DIERKING, MALS '94
Northern Oracle
Spout Press, 2007
One Red Eye
Holy Cow! Press, 2001
ELIZABETH DI GRAZIA, MFA '03
House of Fire
North Star Press of St. Cloud, 2016
NORITA DITTBERNER-JAX, MFA '13
Stopping for Breath
Nodin Press, 2014
LOIS WEST DUFFY
Zillah’s Gift
Beaver’s Pond Press, 2009
JOANNE ESSER, MFA ’02
I Have Always Wanted Lightning
Finishing Line Press, 2011
BRIAN FARREY, MFA '08
The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse
Algonquin Young Readers, 2016
The Grimjinx Rebellion
HarperCollins Childrens, 2014
The Shadowhand Covenant
HarperCollins Childrens, 2013
The Vengekeep Prophecies
HarperCollins Childrens, 2012
With or Without You
Simon Pulse, 2011
SHERRIE FERNANDEZ-WILLIAMS, MFA '05
Soft: A Memoir
North Star Press, 2014
PATTI FRAZEE, MFA '02
Out of Harmony
CreateSpace, 2012
cirkus
Alyson, 2006
DIANNE GRAY, MALS '96
Tomorrow, the River
Houghton Mifflin, 2006
Together Apart
Houghton Mifflin, 2003
Holding Up the Earth
Houghton Mifflin, 2001
CARLA HAGEN, MFA '02
Hand Me Down My Walking Cane
North Star Press, 2011
DAVID HAIGHT, MFA '98
Overdrive
Beaver’s Pond Press, 2005
ANGELA HALLSTROM, MFA '05
Bound On Earth
Parables Press, 2008
Dispensation: Latter-Day Fiction (editor)
Zarahemla Books, 2010
ERIC CHARLES HANSEN, MFA 09
The Epic of Clair
Ilium Press, 2014
Nancy Hedin, MFA '13
Bend
Anglerfish Press, 2017
PETE HEIDEN, MFA '09
Penelope and Pip Build a Prose Poem
Norwood House Press, 2011
ARLO HENNINGS, MFA '01
Guitarlo
Hear2Ear Records and Books, 2016
GEOFF HERBACH, MFA '06
Hooper
HarperCollins, 2018
Anything You Want
Sourcebooks, 2016
Fat Boy vs. The Cheerleader (hardcover)
Gabe Johnson Takes Over (paperback)
Sourcebooks, 2014
I'm with Stupid
Sourcebooks, 2013
Nothing Special
Sourcebooks, 2012
Stupid Fast
Sourcebooks, 2011
The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg
Crown/Three Rivers Press, 2008
LISA HIGGS, MFA '01
Lodestar
Finishing Line Press, 2011
MELANIE HOFFERT, MFA '08
Prairie Silence
Beacon Press, 2013
NICK HUPTON, MALS '08
If I Know It's Coming
North Star Press, 2012
DONNA ISAAC, MFA '07
Tommy
Red Dragonfly Press, 2009
ANN IVERSON, MFA '99
Mouth of Summer
Kelsay Books, 2017
Queen Freda and the Dangerous Dragon
Orange Hat Press, 2016
Art Lessons
Holy Cow! Press, 2011
Definite Space
Holy Cow! Press, 2007
Come Now to the Window
Laurel Poetry Collective, 2005
PAMELA CARTER JOERN, MFA '00
In Reach
University of Nebraska Press, 2014
The Plain Sense of Things
University of Nebraska Press, 2008
The Floor of the Sky
University of Nebraska Press, 2006
Akmed Kahlifa, MFA '14
Lil' Spooney, Silverware That Decides To Grow Hair
Authorhouse Books, 2015
The Camel's Shadow Has Four Humps: African Myth, Urban Mystery
iUniverse, 2012
NICOLE MARY KELBY (as N.M. Kelby), MFA '98
The Pink Suit
Back Bay Books, 2015
White Truffles in Winter
W.W. Norton, 2011
A Travel Guide for Restless Hearts: Stories
Borealis Books, 2009
Murder at the Bad Girls’ Bar & Grill
Thorndike Press, 2008
Whale Season
Random House, 2006
Theater of the Stars, A Novel of Physics and Memory
Hyperion, 2003
In the Company of Angels
Hyperion, 2001
SUSAN KOEFOD, MFA '04
Washed Up
North Star Press, 2011
Let Them Eat Crepes: Stories About the French Pancake
Lulu.com, 2011
HALEY LASCHE, MFA '08
Blood and Survivor
Moria Press, 2017
KATHLEEN LINDSAY, MFA '00
Somewhere Between the Wind and Water
IGI Publishing, 2006
Nancy Loewen, MFA '07
The Last Day of Kindergarten
Marshall Cavendish, 2011
GRETCHEN MARQUETTE, MFA '12
May Day: Poems
Graywolf, 2016
LARRY J. MATTHEWS, MALS '09
The Silent Heart: A Personal Journey Back from Cardiac Arrest
iUniverse, 2012
Beth Mayer, MFA '08
We Will Tell You Otherwise
Black Lawrence Press, 2019
JOHN MEDEIROS, MFA '06
couplets for a shrinking world
North Star Press, 2012
MINDY MEJIA, MFA '09
Leave No Trace: A Novel
Atria/Emily Bestler Books 2018 (forthcoming)
Everything You Want Me To Be
Atria/Emily Bestler Books 2017
The Dragon Keeper
Ashland Creek Press, 2012
NATHAN R. MILLER, MFA '06
Teaching in Circles: My Journeys in Teaching High School
Kaplan, 2008
SUSAN MONTAG, MFA '07
Finding the Way: A Tao for Down-to-Earth People
Nicolas-Hays Press, 2006
ALISON MORSE, MFA '06
If You Wave a Chicken Over Your Head
Red Bird Chapbooks, 2017
STEPHEN MUESKE, MFA '02
A Mnemonic for Desire
Ghost Road Press, 2006
NORA MURPHY, MFA '03
Knitting the Threads of Time: Casting Back to the Heart
New World Library, 2009
Twelve Branches, Stories from St. Paul
Coffee House Press, 2003
DAVID OPPEGAARD, MFA '06
The Town Built on Sorrow
Flux 2017
The Firebug of Bulrog County
Flux, 2015
And the Hills Opened Up
Burnt Bridge, 2014
Wormwood, Nevada
St. Martin’s Press, 2009
The Suicide Collectors
St. Martin's Press, 2008
VICTORIA PETERSON-HILLEQUE, MFA '10
Ana and Adam Build an Acrostic
Norwood House Press, 2011
MICHELE HEATHER POLLOCK, MFA '06
Regarding Memory
Cross Keys Press, 2004
MARK RAPACZ, MFA '07
A Burdizzo For a Prince
Fahrenheit Press, 2017
Boondoggle
280 Steps Press, 2016
The Foreigners (Waeguk)
New Pulp Press, 2015
City Kaiju
Blastgun Books, 2014
Buffalo Bill in the Gallery of the Machines
Burnt Bridge, 2012
PAIGE RIEHL, MFA '14
Blood Ties
Finishing Line Press, 2014
THOMAS RUUD, MFA '03
Unable for the World to Sleep
Laurel Poetry Collective, 2005
MAUREEN MILLEA SMITH, MFA '00
The Enigma of Iris Murphy: Stories
Livingston Press, 2016
When Charlotte Comes Home
Alyson, 2006
SU SMALLEN, MFA '03
You This Close
Red Dragonfly Press, 2016
Kinds of Snow
Green Writers Press, 2016
Wild Hush
Red Bird Chapbooks, 2014
Buddha, Proof
Broadcraft Press, 2011
Weight of Light
Laurel Poetry Collective, 2005
AMANDA ST. JOHN, MFA '10
Sophie and Sadie Build a Sonnet
Norwood House Press, 2011
SUSANNA STYVE, MFA '03
Miscellaneous, Tender
Laurel Poetry Collective, 2004
Derek E. Sullivan, MFA '11
BIGGIE
Albert Whitman Teen, 2015
Kelsey Sutton, current MFA
Gardenia
Diversion Publishing, 2017
MARC THOMSPON, MFA '06
Oklahoma Heat
Red Moon Press
ANN TWEEDY, CURRENT MFA
The Body's Alphabet
Headmistress Press, 2016
APRIL VINDING, MFA '05
Triptych
Wipf & Stock, 2016
T.A. WARDROPE, MFA '08
Arcadian Gates
Blastgun Books, 2015
KATHLEEN WEIHE, MFA '02
Unless You Count the Birds
North Star Press, 2012
LOIS WELSHONS, MALS '94
Where the Moon Is
Laurel Poetry Collective, 2005
ALIDA WINTERNHEIMER, MFA '12
The Murder in Skoghall (The Skoghall Mystery Series, Volume 1)
28.5press, 2015
A Stone's Throw
28.5press, 2013
JOAN M. WOLF, MFA '01
Someone Named Eva
Clarion, 2007
MARGARET WURTELE, MALS '93
Touching the Edge: A Mother’s Spiritual Path from Loss to Life
John Wiley & Sons, 2004
Taking Root: A Spiritual Memoir
St. Mary’s Press, 1998
ADDIE ZIERMAN, MFA '10
When We Were on Fire: A Memoir of Consuming Faith, Tangled Love, and Starting Over
Convergent Press, 2013