Writer's Series
Twin Rivers’ Writer’s series
Twin Rivers is excited to launch our new Writer’s Series! Join us as we sit down with writers to discuss their work, experiences, process, future, and more.
Each event will consist of a moderated conversation with the author and a Q&A with the audience. Mark your calendar with the dates below so you don't miss out on this exciting new series!
2025 WRITER’S SERIES DATES:
Tuesday, 4.29.25, 6:00-7:30
Featured Author - Shannon Gibney
www.shannongibney.com
Shared Spaces at Emy Frentz - Ward Collective
523 South Second Street, Mankato, MN 56001
Tuesday, 6.10.25, 6:00-7:30
Featured Author - Allen Eskens
www.alleneskens.com
Shared Spaces at Emy Frentz - Ward Collective
523 South Second Street, Mankato, MN 56001
Date - TBD
Featured Author - J. Ryan Stradal
www.jryanstradal.com
Shared Spaces at Emy Frentz - Ward Collective
523 South Second Street, Mankato, MN 56001
Shannon Gibney
Tuesday, 4.29.25, 6:00-7:30
Shannon Gibney is a writer, educator, and activist. She is author of several books, including The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption, which received a Michael L. Printz Honor and a Minnesota Book Award; See No Color and Dream Country, both winners of Minnesota Book Awards; Where We Come From (co-authored), winner of the 2023 Carter G. Woodson Award; and Sam and the Incredible African and American Food Fight, a children’s picture book about a cross-cultural family. A Bush Artist and McKnight Writing Fellow, Gibney teaches at Minneapolis College, where she was named Educator of the Year in 2023. She lives with her two children in Minneapolis.
Allen Eskens
Tuesday, 6.10.25, 6:00-7:30
Allen Eskens is the bestselling author of The Life We Bury, The Guise of Another, The Heavens May Fall, The Deep Dark Descending, The Shadows We Hide, Nothing More Dangerous, The Stolen Hours, Forsaken Country, Saving Emma, and his latest novel, The Quiet Librarian.
He is the recipient of the Barry Award, Minnesota Book Award, Left Coast Crime Award, and Silver Falchion Award and has been a finalist for the Edgar® Award, Thriller Award, Anthony Award and Nero Award. His books have been translated into 23 languages.
Allen has a journalism degree from the University of Minnesota and a law degree from Hamline University. After law school, he studied creative writing in the M.F.A. program at Minnesota State University-Mankato, as well as the Loft Literary Center and the Iowa Summer Writer’s Festival. Allen grew up in the hills of central Missouri. He now lives with his wife, Joely, in greater Minnesota where he recently retired after practicing criminal law for 25 years.
J. Ryan Stradal
Date - TBD
J. Ryan Stradal’s latest novel, Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club is an instant national bestseller. It debuted at #11 on the national ABA Indiebound list, #7 on the Los Angeles Times list, and was the #1 selling hardcover fiction book among independent bookstores in the Midwest its first week of release. Roxane Gay has called it “a perfect book,” and it received glowing reviews from NPR, People, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota Public Radio, TASTE Magazine, AARP Magazine, and Kirkus, where it earned a starred review.
His second novel, The Lager Queen of Minnesota received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and BookPage, it became a national bestseller its first week of release, and was named one of the best books of the year by NPR, USA Today, Booklist, Paste, and the Texas Library Association, among other places. In 2020, The Lager Queen of Minnesota was named the winner of the WILLA Literary Award (by Women Writing the West, to honor the best in literature, featuring women’s or girls’ stories set in the West that are published each year) and was a finalist for the Heartland Booksellers Award.
His first novel, Kitchens of the Great Midwest, reached the New York Times Hardcover Best Seller list at #19 on its third week of release. In April 2016, the American Booksellers Association voted Kitchens the Indies Choice Book of the Year Award – Adult Debut Winner.
He grew up in the Midwest, in the southern Minnesota town of Hastings, where he often failed his driver's license exams, and graduated from Northwestern University, where he often slipped on the ice.
