Kevin Fenton, Thomas Maltman, and Kent Nerburn 

Saturday, November 8, 2025
3:30pm, Riverview Room (located upstairs from the Book Fair)

Three authors present arresting new novels that feature Minnesota settings — a great way to cap off a day of Minnesota literature!

About the Authors

Kevin Fenton is the author of Merit Badges, which won the AWP Prize for the Novel and the Friends of the American Writers Award, and Leaving Rollingstone, which Patricia Hampl called “the most important memoir to come out of the Midwest (or anywhere) in years.” He works as an advertising writer and creative director; in that capacity, he’s published essays in design quarterlies and magazines. He got a slightly better education than he deserved at Beloit College, the University of Minnesota Law School, and the University of Minnesota MFA program. He lives in St Paul with his wife Ellen and his greyhound Evie.

Thomas Maltman’s first novel, The Night Birds, won an Alex Award, a Spur Award, and the Friends of American Writers Literary Award, and was chosen as an “Outstanding Book for the College Bound” by the American Library Association in 2009; his books since then have continued to earn widespread acclaim, including an All Iowa Reads selection in 2014. Maltman teaches at Normandale Community College and lives in the Twin Cities area with his wife, a Lutheran pastor, and three daughters.

Kent Nerburn is the award-winning Minnesota author of Neither Wolf nor Dog, The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo, The Wolf at Twilight, and more. A Minneapolis native and a longtime resident of Bemidji, MN, he has recently moved to St. Paul.