Jim Heynen

Jim Heynen (1940-) attended one of the last one-room schoolhouses in Iowa as a boy. He attended the University of Iowa. He was writer-in-residence at Minnesota’s St. Olaf’s College for many years. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with his wife. Heynen has received a Loft Career Advancement Fellowship and also a Young Hoosier Book Award. In the 1970s, Heynen worked with Francis Densmore’s research to translate Sioux Songs, which he then assembled into a chapbook.

Heynen is known for his poetry, novels, nonfiction, and short fiction. Some of his most well-known stories are about “the boys,” farm boys that feature in several of Heynen’s story collections. These stories have been broadcast on American radio many times and also on the radio in Denmark and Sweden. The most recent story about “the boys,” The Boys’ House, was named Editor’s Choice for Best Books in 2001 by The Bloomsbury Review, Newsday, and Booklist. Some of Heynen’s other works include A Suitable Church, The One-Room Schoolhouse, One Hundred Over One Hundred, and more.