Author of Cork O’Connor series to make local stop

Minnesota author William Kent Krueger will give an author presentation and Q&A session followed by a book signing at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept 6 at Carrie Lee Elementary auditorium — 210 Vernon St. in Decorah. The public is invited to the free event, which is sponsored by the Oneota Valley Literary Foundation, with support from Carrie Lee Elementary and Dragonfly Books.

Krueger is the author of The New York Times bestselling Cork O’Connor Mystery series, which is set in the north woods of Minnesota and focuses on Cork O’Connor, the former sheriff of Tamarack County and a man of mixed heritage — part Irish and part Ojibwe. Raised in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, Krueger briefly attended Stanford University — before being kicked out for radical activities. After that, he logged timber, worked construction, tried his hand at freelance journalism and eventually ended up researching child development at the University of Minnesota. He’s been married for more than 50 years to a retired attorney. He makes his home in St. Paul.

His work has received a number of awards, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award and the Friends of American Writers Prize. His last 13 novels were all New York Times bestsellers. “Ordinary Grace,” his stand-alone novel published in 2013, received the Edgar Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition for the best novel published in that year. The companion novel, “This Tender Land,” was published in September of 2019 and spent nearly six months on the New York Times bestseller list. His most recent stand-alone, “The River We Remember,” was published in 2023 and was featured on many best-of-the-year lists, as well as receiving an Edgar Award nomination for Best Novel.

This event is part of Dragonfly Books and the Oneota Valley Literary Foundation’s author event series, which brings writers of all genres to northeast Iowa to lead in conversations about literature and writing.