Join us and mingle with the stars of FPL’s creative sister projects Northern Narratives and Northern Focus! Partake in refreshments as you brush elbows with local writers and photographers whose work is on display at the Main Library. Photographs will be on exhibit in the concourse gallery, and authors will be invited to read excerpts of their work published in Northern Narratives 2023. Copies of Northern Narratives, which features the winning cover photo of the Northern Focus contest, will be available for purchase. The Northern Focus photo exhibit will be on display in the entryway gallery from through Oct. 31, 2023. Note: The Northern Narratives and Northern Focus projects are generously supported by the Friends of the Fargo Public Library.
Monday, Oct. 2 – Main Library gallery and community room
Photo Exhibit Open House 3 – 6 p.m.
Reception and Book Launch – 6 p.m.
Northern Focus is a project conceived by the Fargo Public Library for up-and-coming, recreational photographers with the aim to provide a free space, for artist and viewer alike, to showcase amateur artwork and share local perspectives. This is the fourth year that photographers from North Dakota and parts of western Minnesota sent in their favorite photographs taken anywhere within the region.
Thank you to all who participated in the Fargo Public Library’s Northern Focus 2023 photo contest. We had 87 submissions and the judging panel had a challenging job choosing the winning photo. Photos on display as part of the 2023 Northern Focus photography exhibit are available to view online here.
Jeffrey Westgard's Yellowjacket on a Grape Leaf was chosen from among them to be the front cover of Northern Narratives 2023, Northern Focus’s sister project for regional writers.
Please note: Photographers retain the rights to their photographs.
Special thanks to the Friends of the Fargo Public Library for supporting both the Northern Focus photography project and the Northern Narratives writing project.
Northern Narratives 2022 is the library’s sixth publication of poems, essays, and short stories produced by local and regional authors. It is available at all three library locations for check out, or it can be read online. Please note that the cover art (titled Milky Way and Meteor) for this book was by photographer Gordon Court and submitted as part of the Northern Focus 2022 photography project.
Northern Narratives Jr. is the library's kids-only, literary magazine. This anthology is available to be read online and features over 50 entries of poems, nonfiction essays, short stories, drawings, photographs, and comics written and created by school-age children from the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo community in the spring of 2022. Categories had first and second place winners, and some categories also had honorable mentions, as judged by the Fargo Public Library Children's Services Staff. Winners works are indicated by an asterisk.*
Please note: Transcription of each piece is taken directly from the original work, so any creative spelling, grammar, or formatting is considered intentional by the artist.
Northern Narratives 2021 is the library’s fifth publication of poems, essays and short stories produced by local and regional authors. It is available at all three library locations for check out, or it can be read online. Please note that the cover art (titled The Wild Mist) for this book was by photographer Brittani Hovland and submitted as part of the Northern Focus 2021 photography project.
Northern Narratives Jr. is the library's first ever, kids-only, literary magazine. It is available to be read online and features poems, nonfiction essays, short stories, drawings, photographs, and comics written and created by school-age children from the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo community in the spring of 2021. Each category had first and second place winners as judged by the Fargo Public Library Children's Services Staff. Winning works are indicated by an asterisk.*
Please note: Transcription of each piece was taken directly from the original work, so any creative spelling, grammar, or formatting is considered intentional by the artist.
Northern Narratives 2020 is the library’s fourth publication of poems, essays and short stories produced by local and regional authors. It is available at all three library locations for check out, or it can be read online. Please note that the cover art (titled Home in the Middle of Nowhere) for this book was by photographer Hannah Borsheim submitted as part of the inaugural Northern Focus photography project.
Northern Narratives 2019 is the library’s third publication of poems, essays and short stories produced by local and regional authors. It is available at all three library locations for check out, or it can be read online.
Northern Narratives 2018 is the library’s third publication of poems, essays and short stories produced by local and regional authors. It is available at all three library locations for check out, or it can be read online.