Real Work is about both physical and emotional manifestations of work, from growing up on a small commercial hazelnut farm in Oregon to familial relationships and loss. It traces a journey from the Pacific Northwest to the upper Midwest through poems that hinge on attentiveness to nature and in which plants, animals, and seasons intertwine with human themes.

Janna Knittel is from the Pacific Northwest and now lives in Minnesota. Janna’s previous publications include the chapbook Fish; Wild Life (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and poems in Between These Shores Literary and Arts Annual, Blueline, Breakwater Review, Constellations, Cottonwood, North Dakota Quarterly, Up North Lit, Whale Road Review, and The Wild Word, among other journals, as well as the anthology, Waters Deep: A Great Lakes Anthology (Split Rock Review, 2018). Janna has taught literature and writing classes at multiple colleges and universities and has also published scholarly essays on literature.

Additional Readers:

Poet Donna Isaac is a teaching artist and organizer of community readings and workshops through the League of MN Poets' chapters. She co-hosts Literary Bridges, a reading series in St. Paul, MN. She has a B.A. from James Madison University; an M.A. from the University of Minnesota; and an M.F.A. from Hamline University. Published poetry work includes Footfalls (Pocahontas Press); Tommy (Red Dragonfly Press); Holy Comforter (Red Bird Chapbooks); and Persistence of Vision (Finishing Line Press). <donnaisaacpoet.com>.

Brian Baumgart (he/him) is the author of the poetry collection Rules for Loving Right (Sweet, 2017), and his poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in a number of journals, including South Dakota Review, Big Muddy, Spillway, Whale Road Review, and Signal Mountain Review, among others, as well as in the anthologies Rewilding: Poems for the Environment and Working Stiff. His poetry has been nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net awards. Brian is an English professor and has served as the Director of Creative Writing at North Hennepin Community College from 2012-2022. He was 2018 Artist-in-Residence at University of Minnesota's Cedar Creek Ecological Science Reserve and currently is a coordinator for the Minnesota State Write Like Us Program and on the Board of Directors at Northern Starz Center for the Performing Arts. He is the father of two teenagers, both of whom are absolutely ridiculous and terrifying.