ҹɫƵapp is announcing the release of Dr. Patrick Hicks’ latest book, Greater Minnesota: Exploring the Land of Sky-Blue Waters, which is being published by Indiana University Press. The launch of the book, written by Augustana’s writer-in-residence and professor of English, is set to take place on Monday, Sept. 1.
In this new book, Hicks takes readers on “a witty, wise and affectionate journey to every corner of the North Star State.” The Stillwater, Minnesota, native, earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English from St. John's University, Minnesota, and master’s degree from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. For years, Hicks lived in Northern Ireland, Germany and Spain — earning a second master’s degree from Queen’s University Belfast and Ph.D. from the University of Sussex in England.
“WپԲ&Բ;Greater Minnesota was such a joy because I was able to travel around my home state and see it as if I were a foreigner. I visited places I’ve heard about all my life, but hadn’t taken the time to see,” said Hicks.
Rediscovering his home state after living abroad for years, Greater Minnesota is an account of Hicks' adventures to the North Shore, Iron Range, Southwest and even Up North in the dead of winter. Traveling the back roads of the state, Hicks visited ancient petroglyphs, the Mayo Clinic, SPAM Museum and U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, as well as the birthplace of Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), a world-class aviation museum hidden on the prairie, a lost forest, the humble start of the Mississippi River and other stops along the way — both surprising and intriguing.
“Greater Minnesota had me spellbound about my own home state. I had thought I knew all there was to know,” noted Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried. “Hicks delivers to us a travel book, compendium of fascinating facts, mini-memoir, love letter, reportorial tour de force and ode to the Land of Sky-Blue Waters — all of it wonderfully written, all of it vividly painted in words.”
Hicks, the radio host of “Poetry From Studio 47,” is the author of more than 10 books and his work has appeared on NPR, “The PBS Newshour” and “American Life in Poetry.” Hicks has been nominated seven times for the Pushcart Prize and won the Glimmer Train Fiction Award. He was also a finalist for the High Plains Book Award, Screencraft Cinematic Book Award, Steinberg Essay Prize, as well as an Emmy Award.
The former visiting fellow of University of Oxford has received several grants, including from the Bush Artist Foundation, Loft Literary Center and National Endowment for the Humanities, South Dakota Arts Council and ҹɫƵapp.
Hicks is also the author of Across the Lake, In the Shadow of Dora: A Novel of the Holocaust and the Apollo Program, published in 2020 by SFA Press/Texas A&M Press, The Commandant of Lubizec: A Novel of the Holocaust and Operation Reinhard, published by Steerforth/Random House, The Collector of Names, published by Schaffner Press, as well as six poetry collections.
Hicks, Augustana’s writer-in-residence since 2007, teaches courses on creative writing, Irish literature, Holocaust studies, as well as honors courses.
To learn more about Hicks’ Greater Minnesota, visit .