10 writers selected from East Side St. Paul, West Central Minn., and Iron Range

Upstream Minnesota is proud to announce the ten writers selected for its 2026 Upstream Creative Writers & Grassroots Journalism Residency Program, a program created to support storytellers who know their communities best. 

Upstream’s Executive Director, Rolf Lowenberg-DeBoer, explains this residency grew out of Upstream’s earlier work with their Artist Fellowship, along with conversations among Upstream board members about how to find and share the stories that rarely venture outside an area’s county lines. What came out of those conversations is as hyperlocal as storytelling gets: writers reporting from the places they already call home. Upstream’s West Central Community Engagement & Partnership Coordinator, Naomi RaMona Schliesman, has led the program’s development from the very beginning, drawing on her deep experience in program design and decades of supporting artists to build the residency from concept to launch and carry it into implementation.

“Creative writing and storytelling have the power to help us see our communities more deeply and to recognize the people, places, ideas, and acts of care that are shaping our region every day. Our Creative Writers and Grassroots Journalists are the storytellers who listen closely, look deeply, and speak from the heart. They have the ability to uncover the extraordinary within the places and spaces we call home, and to uplift the voices and stewards that might otherwise go unseen.”

— Naomi RaMona Schliesman 

The ten writers, chosen from West Central Minnesota, East Side St. Paul, and the Iron Range, will receive a $3,000 stipend, a Minnesota State Parks Pass, mileage reimbursement, a supply stipend and light-touch mentorship and peer support with Schliesman. Over the 9-month residency, each artist will independently visit Minnesota State Parks and natural spaces to spend intentional time observing, journaling, interviewing community members and stewards, walking, listening, reflecting, and engaging deeply with the natural places and spaces they visit to produce work about their own neck of the woods. 

Schliesman states that “through the Creative Writing and Journalism Residency, we are empowering local writers and journalists to tell authentic stories rooted in their own experiences, natural places, and communities across Minnesota. Upstream’s role is to help carry those stories farther and to share, amplify, and create more opportunities for people to connect with one another and see the important work happening all around us. When we listen, tell our stories, and lift each other up, we move Upstream together.”

2026 Upstream Creative Writers & Grassroots Journalism Residency Program Artists

West Central Minnesota: Michele Anderson, Karrie Carlson, Beau Lofgren, Victoria McWane-Creek

East Side St. Paul: Kira Bunkholt, Natalia Katlaina Roman, Dave Rannow

Iron Range: Erin O’Daniel, Lacey Squier, Tashia Hart