Join us!Virtual Wordsmith 2020 is coming Oct 1-4, 2020. Over 10,000 people showed up for the inaugural festival weekend, joining famous authors like Stephen King, Edwidge Danticat, and Amy Tan in a celebration of books. Upcoming Loft events are listed below. Explore our upcoming offerings and find your next chance to learn, connect, and grow.Spring and summer classes, for youth and adults now available.The Loft hosts numerous events throughout the year. But we're still open, and students love our new virtual classes. We started as a grassroots gathering space for poets and writers to share their work and improve their craft. Learn more about our latest offerings below.All programming at the Loft has shifted online until August 31, 2020. From the acclaimed author of Wintering, Peter Geye will share his new novel Northernmost: a thrilling ode to the spirit of adventure and the vagaries of loss and love. The COVID-19 Pandemic grounded flights, canceled events, and hit budgets hard. We believe that story, verse, and writing aren’t just nice things to put on a shelf, but are core to a full existence. All classes are designed to help you reach your goals. Experience a vibrant home for writers and book artists in the Twin Cities during a special preconference afternoon at The Loft Literary Center and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. Writers who’d planned to travel around the country to write in new locales feel the loss, too. I develop units, lesson plans, and engaging resources to help teachers with more joy + ease. At their best, words help us connect, entertain, mourn, provoke, educate, and empathize.We accomplish our work by bringing essential conversations, artists, readers, and learning opportunities together under one roof, including classes, conferences, festivals, events, grants and awards, one-on-one services for writers, residencies, and community engagement.Incorporated on August 22, 1975, the Loft started in the loft space above Marly Rusoff's bookstore. Founded in 1974 (incorporated in 1975), the Loft is a haven for readers and writers; one of the largest centers of its kind in the country. The lineup of visiting authors, agents, and editors is now available and registration is now open. This ‘poets’ club’ eventually became known as ‘The Loft,’ and in 1975 filed for nonpro…

Over the years, thousands of members have affirmed that stories are essential and belong at the center of civic life. Learn more at the link below!Summer youth at the Loft is back. If you, too, wish to support and uphold the singular community for narrative arts found at the Loft, we invite you to All Loft Programming Through December 31 is VirtualMajor support for Loft activities is provided by Loft members, Amazon.com, Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Jerome Foundation, McKnight Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Target Foundation, and the voters of Minnesota, through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Their investment means that we can offer programs, services, and awards to readers and writers of all ages, genres, and experience levels.

Advanced tickets are non-refundable. Following a series of successful events held at Rusoff & Co. Book Dealers in Dinkytown, Minnesota, bookstore owner Marly Rusoff and writers Jim Moore, Patricia Hampl, Phebe Hanson, and Michael Dennis Browne formed a ‘poets’ club’ with support from a fundraising party emceed by Garrison Keillor. If You Have Something to Say, Margaret Virtual Book Launch Party This summer it is all virtual, but we still have most of the great same offerings for ages 6-17. Most events allow for advanced ticket purchases. No classes will take place in Loft physical spaces now through December 31, 2020. Northernmost: Peter Geye Book Launch

Annually, the Loft offers hundreds of classes, awards and grants for writers, readings and events, major festivals and conferences, and other resources for readers and writers.Each year the Loft engages more than 5,000 beginning, intermediate, and advanced writers in learning opportunities, hosts more than 250 authors in readings and dialogues that draw more than 15,000 people, connects with more than 200,000 unique visitors through digital resources on our website, collaborates with at least 30 local and national organizations to enrich the literary environment and, through contracts, awards, and grants, pays writers more than $400,000.In their evaluations, 96% of students report that their class helped them improve their writing, 96% identified their next steps as a writer, and 96% said they made progress toward their writing goals.

Featuring Bobby Wilson Join us—and find or share your story.The Loft offers far more than award-winning writing classes. Major support for Loft activities is provided by Loft members, Amazon.com, Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Jerome Foundation, McKnight Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Target Foundation, and the voters of Minnesota, through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Incorporated in 1975, the Loft started in a bookstore when a group of writers decided to offer classes and readings in the upstairs loft. At their best, they help us connect, entertain, mourn, protest, provoke, educate, and empathize. Don't miss out!During this global health crisis, Loft creative writing classes take place entirely online. Over the years, we have grown to become one of the nation’s leading independent literary centers. The Loft is honored to have many generous funding partners, but the impact of individual members has led the Loft forward since day one.

My name is Jessica Meyer and I am the teacher, author, and curriculum designer behind The Literacy Loft. Some classes are offered via live video conferencing while others are offered in weekly, flexible segments. 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.