Author to focus on finishing her personal essays in town

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

Despite the cold and snowy weather of central Minnesota, the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center still attracts artists to their residency program, even in the middle of frigid December. This month’s artist in residence is a native Minnesotan and is no stranger to cold winters.

Lizzie Lawson is a writer and teacher from Minneapolis, Minn. and arrived in NY Mills on Monday, Dec. 9. She will be in town until December 22 as she works on a collection of personal essays about her coming-of-age years in a Catholic household.

“I’ve been working on this for a number of years,” said Lawson. “It’s tentatively titled, ‘Holy Things.’ It’s a collection of coming-of-age essays about my Catholic upbringing with themes about faith and belonging.

“Growing up, I felt like I just didn’t fit the mold of the Catholic women in my life—my mother, my grandmother, all of my aunts—and this emphasis on motherhood and nurturing and always being this cheerful, cooperative, family-oriented woman,” she continued. “It’s very voice-driven, kind of humorous, and episodic in the essays that they work chronologically from childhood to adulthood.”

Lawson is a self-proclaimed teaching artist and has held a number of creative writing courses over the past few years. She went to the University of St. Thomas in the Twin Cities to obtain a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Marketing before continuing her education at The Ohio State University where she obtained a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and also held the position of nonfiction editor for The Journal.

“I’m originally from Minneapolis,” she said. “I lived in Columbus, Ohio for four years and just moved back a year ago. I was applying for residencies in Minnesota, because living here, I thought that it would be nice and I could drive there. I was looking for them and I saw that someone who had taught me a few years ago in the Loft Literary Center in the Twin Cities and done this residency, so I thought, ‘ok, it must be legit if somebody else has done it.’”

Once Lawson took the leap and applied to the Artist’s Retreat, she found out she had the opportunity to stay for two weeks in December. Although the region’s winters are not known for being particularly hospitable, Lawson is embracing her opportunity to dive into her essays.

“I just love having a ton of time to write,” she said. “This first day that I was here, I was like, ‘this is the best day I’ve had in a while.’ I took this long draft of an essay and cut it into pieces with a scissors and taped it back together, rearranged in a different order. I really love when the hours just fly by, when the work is just flowing.

“I’ve also loved getting to know the women who work at the Cultural Center,” she continued. “I’ll be doing a class later on this week, so I’m excited to see who shows up and get to know some community members.”

Lawson will be teaching a two-hour writing workshop on autobiographical essays at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14 at the NY Mills Cultural Center. The class is open to all ages 16 years old and up with no cost to attend. Free-will donations will be accepted to support the Cultural Center’s residency program.

“If people aren’t familiar with the form of the personal essay, I feel like it can be really powerful for people to discover it for the first time,” she said. “I hope that people feel inspired to unlock the stories that they carry about their own lives and feel the power to tell those stories in whatever form they want to, whether that’s through a personal essay or a different art form. I hope people feel inspired to experiment.”

While Lawson will remain in NY Mills until December 22, she is excited to have time at the Artist Retreat residence to work on her essays and also looks forward to hearing all of the musical talent at the Longest Night Festival held by the Cultural Center on Saturday, Dec. 21.

“Seeing all those music artists and just exploring more around here and enjoying my time here,” she said.