NEW MOON CRAFT TALK SERIES

In the wake of having to cancel the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference this year due to a devastating storm hitting Bemidji on the eve of the conference, MNWC staff has worked with MNWC25 faculty (Jennifer Foerster, Toni Jensen, Douglas Kearney, Benjamin Percy, and Joni Tevis) to provide our community with a series of 90-minute virtual craft talks with generative or guided writing prompts monthly from July through November 2025. The series kicks off on Thursday, July 24 with Joni Tevis’s talk “Work Experience as Memoir Material.” This summer would have been Joni’s fourth time teaching at the conference. We are sure Joni’s talk will be brilliant and inspiring. A detailed schedule for the online five-talk series plus the culminating celebratory Participant Reading in December is below. All talks will be recorded, and following the completion of the series in December they will be posted for six months on a private site for registrants to access at their leisure.

The fee for the series is $150. If you would like to join us online for this series, please follow this link to register for the New Moon Reading Series.

Here is the full series schedule:

Thursday, July 24, 2025 6-7:30pm Central
Joni Tevis – Work Experience as Memoir Material

Thursday, August 21, 2025 6-7:30pm Central
Benjamin Percy – Defamiliarization: Writing Across Forms, Breaking Rules, Ignoring Boundaries

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 6-7:30pm Central
Toni Jensen – Returning to the Well: Familiar Texts in Trying Times

Thursday, October 23, 2025 6-7:30pm Central
Jennifer Foerster – Poetics of Listening: A Generative Workshop

Thursday, November 20, 2025 6-7:30pm Central
Douglas Kearney – “Better” isn’t a plan: Creating Revision Strategies for Poems

Tuesday, December 16, 2025 6-7:30pm Central
Participant Reading Share your work with the New Moon Series Community! Sign-up will be provided in advance. Times to read will range between 3-5 minutes depending on interest.

Cancellation Policy
August 21 – A $20.00 cancellation fee will be deducted from the series fee. The remainder of the fee will be refunded. No refunds for the series fee will be made after August 21.

Registration Policy
You may register and attend once the series has begun, but the registration for will not be adjusted or prorated for missed Craft Talks, the recordings of which will be accessible after the completion of the series. Thursday, November 20, 2025 is the last day you may register.

Please email Mark Spero at participantcoord.mnwc@gmail.com to let us know if you have any questions. We hope to see you at this series or at a future Northwoods Writers event.

MNWC ~ June 2026

In the coming months the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference staff will be planning and building MNWC 2026. Please check here periodically in the fall for updates. We hope to see you this next June!

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Since 2003, writers from all over the United States have gathered in our intimate lakeside setting with award-winning authors and teachers to practice the arts of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference has given hundreds of participants from Minnesota and across the United States the opportunity to work closely our faculty. We offer a range of scholarships to support emerging writers, important voices, and community leaders.

Conference Features

Intimate Workshops with Exceptional Faculty
Auditor Tracks with Virtual Options
Daily Craft Talks
Publishing with Guest Editor
Evening Reading Series
Publishing Panel with Teaching Staff
Affordable Housing in a Lakeside Setting

We are able to attract some of the finest teaching writers to Bemidji and keep our conference affordable in part due to the generous support of our donors and partners. Thanks to MNWC past participants and area writers for your contributions. Thanks to the Minnesota State Arts Board and Region 2 Arts Council for your steady support. Miigwech to Graywolf Press and Heid E. Erdrich and the contributors to the New Poets of Native Nations anthology for supporting Native women writers. And thanks to all of our partners at Bemidji State University.

Past faculty include Faith Adiele, Steve Almond, Kimberly Blaeser, Elizabeth Bradfield, Jericho Brown, Rebecca Brown, Derick Burleson, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Natalie Diaz, Mark Doty, Camille Dungy, Danielle Evans, Nikky Finney, Jennifer Foerster, David Gessner, Joy Harjo, Terrance Hayes, Robin Hemley, Edward Hirsch, LeAnne Howe, David Jauss, Mat Johnson, J. Drew Lanham, Joan Naviyuk Kane, Douglas Kearney, Judith Kitchen, Ada Limón, Lorraine Lopez, Bret Lott, Donna Masini, Wayne Miller, Judson Mitcham, Ander Monson, John Murillo, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Sharon Olds, Peter Orner, Jay Parini, Dustin Parsons, Benjamin Percy, Claudia Rankine, Paisley Rekdal, Scott Russell Sanders, Tim Seibles, Brenda Shaughnessy, Sue Silverman, Tracy K. Smith, Meera Subramanian, Joni Tevis, Natasha Trethewey, David Treuer, and Kevin Young. See a complete list of faculty here.