All Loft Programming Through September 1 is Virtual

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The Loft Literary Center

A Haven For Readers & Writers

The Loft believes that story, verse, and writing aren’t just nice things you put on a shelf, but are instead core to a full existence. At their best, they help us connect, entertain, mourn, protest, provoke, educate, and empathize. Join us—and find or share your story.

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New at the Loft

The Loft offers far more than award-winning writing classes. Learn more about our latest offerings below.

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The Loft Presents: Sense of Adventure

Through this theme, the Loft invites readers and writers to explore something (anything) from a new perspective with an unexpected outcome. Join us for a celebration of adventure and a chance to explore, including a Big Ideas with Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Carolyn Finney!

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Loft 2021 Winter Features Highlights

Winter at the Loft!

All programming at the Loft has shifted online until May 31, 2021. But we're still open, and we have a ton of new offerings this winter based on your feedback: Sense of Adventure; New Year, Fresh Start Classes; Feedback Classes; After School Classes; Pastries, Poetry and Prose; One-on-One Coaching; and more!

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One-on-One Coaching

Loft One-On-One Coaching

Meet one-on-one via video conference with a Loft coach and get your agenting, publishing, and other questions answered.

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Upcoming Classes

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Loft Classes Now Open

During this global health crisis, Loft creative writing classes take place entirely online. Some classes are offered via live video conferencing while others are offered in weekly, flexible segments. All classes are designed to help you reach your goals. Explore our upcoming offerings and find your next chance to learn, connect, and grow.

Classes starting from now until April 2021—for youth and adults—are now available.

Upcoming Classes About Loft Classes

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Upcoming Loft Events

Learn More About Loft Events

The Loft hosts numerous events throughout the year. Take a look at our upcoming offerings and plan your next visit.

Upcoming Loft Events

Sense of Adventure: Monsters and Creatures with Matthew Kessen

As part of the Loft's Sense of Adventure theme, we'll have a theoretical conversation around the foes and obstacles in many adventure stories: monsters and mythical creatures. Host Matthew Kessen will discuss these creatures and then answer hypothetical audience questions.

More Than A Single Story: Crossing Generational & Racial Lines

The Twin Cities has developed a complex intersectional culture between communities, organizations and artists of color. This panel presents two generations of collaborations between African American and Asian American literary artists. This panel will discuss what their collaborations can tell us about race in America—in the past, in the present and the future.

Big Ideas: Sense of Adventure with Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Carolyn Finney

Many of us in Minnesota revel in the joys of getting outside but the "great outdoors" isn't necessarily as transcendent, as universal, or as one-size-fits-all as it's often been portrayed. Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Carolyn Finney join us for this Big Ideas conversation on the ways our racial identities shape our relationships to the natural world.

The Loft's Blog

Reading Like a Writer

Trail of Lightning and Sentence Structure

Trail of Lightning is set in the time after the Big Water, a climate catastrophe that has drowned most of the continent. It’s a world “where the old gods have risen, where monsters threaten the five-fingereds, where death stalks the few who still live on the land of their ancestors.”

Loft Spotlights

Meet Teaching Artist Mishka Hoosen

Mishka Hoosen is a writer and teacher currently based in Cape Town, South Africa. He graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in the US and received a masters in creative writing from Rhodes University in South Africa. His debut novel, Call it a Difficult Night, was published by Deep South Books.

Loft Spotlights

Meet Teaching Artist Rachel Werner

Rachel Werner is faculty for Hugo House and The Loft Literary Center, a We Need Diverse Books program volunteer, and a book reviewer for Shelf Awareness. She is also the founder of The Little BookProject WI, a community arts and nonprofit biannual collaboration.

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