Upcoming Bemidji writers conference features acclaimed authors

BEMIDJI — The 2025 Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference will feature many returning writing faculty, but new to the conference will be Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carl Phillips as the conference's Northwoods Visiting Writer.

The conference has featured distinguished writers teaching their craft since 2003, with a hiatus from 2009 through 2012. Writers wanting to hone their skills sign up for a week of workshops with the writing faculty, which takes place at Bemidji State University each summer.

Each writing faculty member additionally presents their work at the Evening Reading Series, which is free and open to the public.

This year, the readings will take place June 23-28 at 7 p.m. in Room 150 of Hagg Sauer Hall at Bemidji State University. Faculty writers will have books for sale and for signing after each reading.

Information on each of this year's writing faculty members is included below, as well as short excerpts of their work to listen to ahead of the Evening Reading sessions.

Monday, June 23: Douglas Kearney

Douglas Kearney is the author of nine books of poetry and essays. His book Sho (2021) won the Minnesota Book Award for poetry and was a National Book Award Finalist. Douglas teaches creative writing at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, where he is a McKnight Presidential Fellow. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Altadena, California, he lives with his family in St. Paul.

Poet Douglas Kearney

Douglas Kearney talks about important lessons he returns to when it comes to writing and he reads the poem "Sand Fire (or The Pool, 2016)" from his book "Sho."

Listen • 6:09

Tuesday, June 24: Toni Jensen

Toni Jensen is a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship recipient. Her work has appeared in several publications, including Orion, Catapult and Ecotone. She is also the author of the short story collection From the Hilltop. Jensen is Métis and teaches at the University of Arkansas and the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Writer Toni Jensen

Toni Jensen speaks to how creative nonfiction helps us tell powerful stories and reads an excerpt from her memoir "Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land."

Listen • 7:01

Wednesday, June 25: Carl Phillips

Carl Phillips is the author of 17 books of poetry, most recently Scattered Snows, to the North (2024) and Then the War: And Selected Poems 2007-2020, which won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize. Phillips is the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference 2025 Northwoods Visiting Writer.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carl Phillips

Carl Phillips explains how poetry can tell us about what we are collectively experiencing in the world and reads three poems from "Scattered Snows, to the North."

Listen • 6:07

Thursday, June 26: Joni Tevis

Joni Tevis is a creative non-fiction writer who has had her work published in several anthologies and is the author of The World is on Fire and The Wet Collection. Additionally, she teaches at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, where she serves as the Bennette E. Geer Professor of English.

Writer Joni Tevis

Joni Tevis talks about what makes a good sentence and teaching writing. She also reads an excerpt from her essay "If Your Dreams Don't Scare You."

Listen • 6:03

Friday, June 27: Benjamin Percy

Benjamin Percy is the author of seven novels, including The Sky Vault (2023), The Unfamiliar Garden (2022) and The Ninth Metal (2021). He also writes comic book stories, audio dramas and screenplays. He is the co-writer for the feature film, Summering, with director James Ponsoldt, which will be released this summer.

Writer Benjamin Percy

Benjamin Percy describes how his experience writing in a wide variety of genres has helped him hone his craft as a writer. He also reads an excerpt from his latest book "The Sky Vault."

Listen • 6:28

Saturday, June 28: Jennifer Foerster

Jennifer Foerster is a poet and the author of The Maybe Bird (2022), Bright Raft in the Afterweather (2018) and Leaving Tulsa (2013). She currently teaches for The Rainier Writing Workshop, the Institute of American Indian Arts and Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing and is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma.

Writer and poet Jennifer Foerster

Jennifer Foerster speaks to the role that poetic form plays in her poems and reads her poem "Hokkolen: I become the canyon, its dreaming eye" from her book "The Maybe Bird."

Listen • 5:05