Image: Grand Marais Art Colony

From the Grand Marais Art Colony - August 31, 2025

The North Shore Readers and Writers Festival celebrates, locates, and fosters the literary arts and engagement with the written word.

Festival Participants & Program

The 6th biennial North Shore Readers and Writers Festival, hosted by the Grand Marais Art Colony, is scheduled for Nov 5 - 8, 2025. We anticipate hosting between 100 - 150 total participants for our 2025 festival. About two-thirds of our festival students identify themselves as emerging or established writers and many are pursuing publishing and/or interested in learning about publishing options. 

• Festival Authors
• Emily August 
• Charles Baxter
• Jen Bowen
• Nancy Carlson
• Leif Enger
• Peter Geye
• Anna Farro Henderson
• Brian Malloy
• Marcie Rendon
• Sun Yung Shin
• Kawai Strong Washburn
• Wendy Webb
• Festival Book Professionals
• Beaver’s Pond Press
• Chris Fischbach, Agent - Fischbach Creative
• Graywolf Press
• MN Historical Society Press
• Rachel Fulkerson, Consultant - Bricks & Bones
• Split Rock Review
• University of MN Press

If you are interested in exhibiting at the event, please reach out to the Art Colony.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Visit Cook County and the Grand Marais Area Tourism Association provide a mini-grant to support marketing and promotions.

The festival is held in partnership with:

Program

Programmatic elements include 3-hour to 2–day classes in fiction, creative nonfiction and memoir, and poetry; author readings; panel discussions and special events. All festival events will be held in the various Art Colony studios. Book professionals are part of an exhibit hall and also participate in panel discussions. There will also be an author school visit scheduled with Erin Soderberg Downing.

Author and poet, Sun Yung Shin has been an invited author to several festivals. This year she will be teaching a two-day class entitled, Multi-genre Nature Writing. Shin shares, "I am excited to work with fellow writers writing into our deepest hopes, concerns, memories, mysteries, and dreams as members of the natural world. As with biodiversity, all genres are welcome and celebrated." 

This event also overlaps with the 100th anniversary of University of Minnesota Press, who will have two staff on hand at the festival. Associate Director at UMP, Emily Hamilton, will participate on the panel of book professionals entitled, What We Are Looking For, and Senior Acquisitions Editor, Erik Anderson, will be a part of the evening discussion, Writing the Wild Shore. 

University of Minnesota Press has been pleased to attend several North Shore Readers and Writers Festivals and each event has brought valuable engagement and inspiration to readers, writers, and book professionals. It is unique to attend an event that allows book professionals and authors to jointly participate in the programming–the model creates a rich and layered dialogue for everyone. Being able to reach out to this exquisite part of Minnesota is a fantastic way for UMP to celebrate our 100th anniversary. And you can't go wrong with huddling next to the Big Lake during the Gales of November! ~Emily Hamilton, Associate Director, University of Minnesota Press