Write Like Us

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Write Like Us

Write Like Us an equity-based creative writing program.

  • Write Like Us began as an equity-based creative writing program at five Twin Cities metro-area community colleges: Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Century College, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Normandale Community College, and North Hennepin Community College. Write Like Us centers and celebrates the work of BIPOC writers and writing students, fostering literary mentorship and leadership as it builds a platform for shared stories, voices, and lived experiences.

    Past Events

    Edwidge Danticat, March, 19 2024.

    From 2024 announcement:

    Danticat is the Wun Tsun Tam Mellon Professor of the Humanities in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University. She received her B.A. in French Literature from Barnard College and her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Brown University.

    She is the author of seventeen books, including Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection, Krik? Krak!, a National Book Award finalist, The Farming of Bones, an American Book Award winner; the novels-in-stories, The Dew Breaker, Claire of the Sea Light, and The Art of Death, a National Book Critics Circle finalist for Criticism. She has written seven books for children and young adults, a travel narrative, After the Dance, and a collection of essays, Create Dangerously. Her memoir, Brother, I'm Dying, was a 2007 finalist for the National Book Award and a 2008 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography. She is the editor of The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States, The Beacon Best of 2000, Haiti Noir, Haiti Noir 2, and Best American Essays 2011.

    She is a 2009 MacArthur Fellow, a 2018 Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow, a 2018 winner of the Neustadt Prize, a 2019 winner of the Saint Louis Literary Award, a 2020 United States Artist Fellow, a 2020 winner of the Vilceck Prize, and a 2023 winner of the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story. Her story collection, Everything Inside, was a 2020 winner of the Bocas Fiction Prize, The Story Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Prize. Her essay collection We’re Alone is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in Fall 2024.

  • The inaugural year of Write Like Us is funded by a $150,000 Minnesota State Multi-Campus Collaboration grant in support of Minnesota State’s Equity 2030 goals. Minnesota State is a consortium of thirty state colleges and seven universities in Minnesota. Equity 2030 aims to close the educational equity gaps across race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geographic location by the end of the decade at every Minnesota State college and university.

    All Write Like Us activities follow Minnesota State guidance and mandates regarding COVID-19 protocol.

Supplementary Information

Meet Our Students and Alumni

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  1. Meet Makya NeVilles-Sorell
    Person in a yellow Anoka-Ramsey Community College sweatshirt smiles while holding a pen and writing in a notebook, seated on a gray couch with a small white table.
    Makya NeVilles-Sorell
    Arts & Communication
    AFA Creative Writing
    Person in a yellow Anoka-Ramsey Community College sweatshirt smiles while holding a pen and writing in a notebook, seated on a gray couch with a small white table.

    "Anoka-Ramsey is close to where I live and it has a great reputation."

  2. Meet Patty Koljonen
    Person sitting at a table, wearing glasses and a purple hoodie smiling at the camera in a brightly colored room.
    Patty Koljonen
    Allied Health & Nursing
    Integrative Health and Healing
    Person sitting at a table, wearing glasses and a purple hoodie smiling at the camera in a brightly colored room.

    "The best aspect of Anoka-Ramsey Community College is the people. They simply make the learning experience enjoyable."

  3. Meet Dylan Herbst
    Medical professional in blue scrubs with stethoscope standing confidently in a clinic lobby.
    Dylan Herbst
    Allied Health & Nursing
    Nursing AS
    Medical professional in blue scrubs with stethoscope standing confidently in a clinic lobby.

    "I was quite nervous during the transition from high-school to college. The faculty here worked with me and the process was very smooth. I was sitting in class working toward my future aspirations in no time."

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