Interviews and Press

See below for a variety of interviews, talks, and reviews of my work.

April 18, 2014; Interview with David Greene on National Public Radio
January 31, 2014; Pierce County Tribune - “The award-winning author and Wyndmere native acknowledged that she still struggles with speaking about who she is in her very conservative home state.”
January 17, 2014; Pierce County Tribune -“Hoffert captures the beauty of the prairie with countless descriptions of the land.”
January 2014; Prairie Silence made the American Library Association's 2014 Over the Rainbow Reading list. -“The committee’s mission is to create a bibliography of books that exhibits commendable literary quality and significant authentic GLBT content…”
Summer 2013; Review Great Plains Quarterly - "Melanie Hoffert’s memoir on growing up gay in rural North Dakota is refreshingly devoid of the cliched finger-wagging that marks much discourse on the subject."
July - August 2013; Review in The Gay and Lesbian Review - “... readers are treated to a gorgeous book filled with quiet reverence for an unpretentious way of life, for determined self-examination, and for folks who, to Hoffert’s surprise, never really discouraged her from being who she was.”
May - June 2013; Review in Orion Magazine - “This book is about clearing out spaces, openings where we can let go of our burdens of silence.”
April 19, 2013; Review in The Sheridan Press - “Melanie Hoffert’s “Prairie Silence” is one of those affecting books that comes along now and then which compels the reader to reflect, re-read a page, or two, or many and then at conclusion, send on to friends, or recommend.”
April 12, 2013; Interview on PBS’s Prairie Pulse:

April 12, 2013; interview on DelmarvaNow.com -"I spent five winters in North Dakota (up there you count by winter, not by year) and I found Hoffert’s descriptions of the people and the landscape to be beautiful. It’s not easy to capture the stark beauty of a desolate place and the simple goodness of the people who are strong enough to make a life in it, but she has done it."
April 4, 2013; review in The Washington Blade -“This is a gorgeous book that evokes quiet country mornings and loud self-examination, and this former farm girl enjoyed it thoroughly. If you once believed that you can’t truly ever go home again, “Prairie Silence” is a book you’ll be eager to read.”
March 21, 2013; review in Out Impact.com -“Who Says You Can’t Go Home? Melanie Hoffert’s Memoir a Love Song and Confession to the Midwest”
March 17, 2013; review in Lambda Literary - “Hoffert’s writing style and abilities alone are a reason for recommending this book, regardless of a reader’s particular genre interests. She is a master of description, utilizing the least number of words while evoking maximum effect. By eschewing chronological time and focusing on connections around the motifs at the core of the memoir (home, religion, and identity/self-actualization), Prairie Silence becomes less of a story and more of a person—someone a reader can connect with on a deeper level.”
March 12, 2013; review in The Bismarck Star Tribune -“For all who have grown up in rural North Dakota, Melanie’s memoir will bring smiles and resurrect fond memories. Others should brew a cup of tea, find a comfortable chair, and enjoy reading about an expatriate coming home —and coming to terms with the silence of the prairie.”
February 27, 2013; review in The Washington Blade -“What would you do if you hailed from a place where you being gay was the farthest thing from your neighbors’ minds? In “Prairie Silence,” author Melanie Hoffert tackles that, coming from her home state of North Dakota. This is a beautiful book, almost bucolic, and filled with a quiet sense of calm and crops.”
March 2013; review in March issue of Curve Magazine - “Hoffert paints a picture that even urban readers will appreciate.”
February 24, 2013; review in the Hibbing Daily Tribune -“Hoffert’s journey through her own identity, faith and experiences returning to the farm to work a harvest, is a worthy, meaningful ride. Her observations and conclusions ring like the old church bell she finds at an abandoned church near her home, not just for North Dakota, but for anywhere the land and the quiet determination of people created a great generation with a sense of place, but no place to go.”
February 14, 2013; Review on Dennis Deery’s blog. -“What made me love this book though is that Hoffert came to a conclusion near and dear to my heart, which is that you can only come to understand who you are when you also come to understand where you came from.
February 3, 2013; Review on Tales of the Wabasha Pack blog by Olivia Kirby. -"Melanie Hoffert does exquisite work in writing about the one thing that our modern society holds on to – silence. The silence of ourselves, our family, of our dreams, wishes, hopes and desires."
January 25, 2013; Interview on Culturology with Heidi Holtan in this Real Good Words interview on Northern Community Radio - KAXE & KBXE
January 21, 2013; Interview with Jeff Schechtman on the program “Specific Gravity” out of Napa, CA
January 18, 2013; Interview with Christopher Gabriel on WDAY
January 18, 2013; Interview on Hear it Now on Prairie Public Radio
January 18, 2013; Feature in the Fargo Forum
January 18, 2013; Feature in the Wahpeton Daily News
January 17, 2013; Interview with Joel Heitkamp on KFGO
January 9, 2013; Interview in MINNPOST -“It’s a wistful read, full of generosity and love and true admiration for the people back home. But that doesn’t make sharing it easy.”
January 8, 2013; Interview on Milwaukee Public Radio -“The book comes out today and also explores what is happening to isolated rural communities across the upper Midwest. Hoffert, who works for Teach for America in Minnesota, explains it was also an opportunity for her as a ‘rural expatriate’ to reconcile her thoughts of home, love and faith.”
January 8, 2013; Review on Sophisticated Dorkiness Blog -“But there are many more reasons to admire this book outside the personal interest I brought to the story. Hoffert does a lovely job pacing the back-and-forth between her current time on the farm and her childhood memories; every chapter ends at a place where I want to keep turning the pages long after it was time for me to go to bed...”
January 7, 2013; Review in “The Inns and Outs of Tight-knit Community” on Biographile -“Her decision to return, therefore, makes for a poignant tale. “
January 6, 2013; Review in Minneapolis Star Tribune -“Hoffert's bittersweet and compelling memoir recalls her struggles at ending her silence and creating a fuller life for herself. She illuminates the quiet grace of the people and land she loves and mourns the passing of a way of life.”
January 6, 2013; Review in St. Paul Pioneer Press -“Over the last ten years I have been trying to resolve a seemingly simple dilemma: how to tell the state of North Dakota that I am gay. That's the heart of this involving memoir by a woman who grew up on a farm near Wyndmere, N.D. Like so many young people who grew up on the Dakota prairie...”
January 4, 2013; Interview with David Wilk of the “WritersCast” podcast program. -“Hoffert’s prose is plainspoken and clear, just as she was in her interview with me about this strong debut work of nonfiction. A warm and loving memoir I highly recommend and an excellent introduction to a fine new writer.”

Appearances and Talks

I've had the privilege of meeting with a variety of folks interested in writing, from classes to community groups to book clubs. If you'd like me to speak to your group, contact me at hoffert.melanie@gmail.com.

Mountain Brook Community Book Club, Mountain Brook, AZ; February 11, 2016 - Presentation & Talk
Perham Library; May 1, 2015 - Presentation
Century College; April 2, 2015 - Presentation & class talk
Dickinson State University; February 10, 2015 - Visiting Writer
Redwood Falls Library; November 6, 2014 - Presentation
Minot State University; January 27, 2014 in the Aleshire Theater - Presentation
Prairie Talks in Rugby; January 26, 2014 - Eagles Club - Presentation
NDSU in Fargo - October 1, 2013 - Arikara in the Memorial Union - Presentation & classroom visits
University of Minnesota, Morris - 2013 - Presentations
Montana Writers Festival in Missoula; October 13, 2013 - Panel
Fulmer Public Library, Sheridan, Wyoming; October 23, 2013 - Presentation
Sheridan College; October 24, 2013 - Class visits
Sheridan Books and Stationery/Gallery; October 26, 2013 - Book signing
PFLAG Presentation - Red Wing, Minnesota; May 6, 2013- Talk
Saints & Sinners Conference in New Orleans; May 24 - 26, 2013 - Panel
Reading at Women & Children First in Chicago with Barrie Jean Borich; April 12, 2013 - Reading
Bismarck State College (writing workshop); March 20, 2012 - Reading
Prairie Room of the Bismarck State College Student Union; Bismarck State College; March 21, 2013 - Talk
Bluestockings in NYC; March 14, 2013 - Reading
Books, Inc. in San Francisco (Opera Plaza); February 28, 2013 - Reading
Red Door Art Gallery in Wahpeton; North Dakota; February 21, 2013 - Reading
Antoinette's On The River in Wahpeton, North Dakota; February 20, 2013 - Reading
Common Good Books in St. Paul; February 7, 2013 - Reading
Concordia College in Moorhead; Friday, January 18, 2013 - Visiting writer
Zanbroz Variety Store in Fargo Saturday, January 19, 2013 - Reading
Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis, January 10, 2013 - Reading