Dublin Township, Swift County, Minnesota, photo above —  Jannet L. Walsh, a rural Minnesota-based photographer, writer and educator, first-time published author of a creative nonfiction quest narrative Higgledy-Piggledy Stones: Family Stories from Ireland and Minnesota about her Minnesota and Irish heritage. Publication October 24, 2023 by Shanti Arts Publishing.

Irish American heritage book, creative nonfiction quest narrative available at Shanti Arts Publishing

Jannet L. Walsh
October 31, 2023
Murdock, Minnesota

I’m excited to announce my book Higgledy-Piggledy Stones: Family Stories from Ireland and Minnesota published October 24, 2023, by Shanti Arts Publishing.

You can order it online directly at the publisher, and can also be requested at your favorite bookseller. View details at Shanti Arts Publishing.

Book Summary
A creative nonfiction quest narrative, author Jannet L. Walsh carefully tells the stories that came from her extensive research into her Irish American heritage set in Minnesota and Ireland. Walsh’s family was among the first to settle in a series of Catholic colonies established in 1876 by Archbishop John Ireland in De Graff, Minnesota. Her ancestors—farmers, stewards of the soil, and faithful Christians—were chosen to be part of the rural community in Swift County. Descendants of these settlers continue to live and work in the rural farming community in Swift County. View summary at publisher’s website.

FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / General
TRAVEL / Europe / Ireland

ISBN: 978-1-956056-71-6 (print; softcover; perfect bound; 21 black-and-white family photographs)

LCCN: 2023934010
Released October 24, 2023 | Copyright 2023

206 pages

Author Biography
Jannet L. Walsh, Murdock, Minnesota-based photographer, author, educator, is a first-time published author of a creative nonfiction quest about her Minnesota and Irish heritage. Walsh received a 2022–2024 McKnight Foundation Grant for writing about her family’s Irish Canadian roots on Wolfe Island, Ontario, Canada, in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. In this endeavor, Walsh combines Irish family detective skills with creative nonfiction narration. Readers imagine they are walking with her in rural Minnesota, in Ireland, and in Canada, in her “you are there” writing genre, inherited from her family’s oral tradition. Walsh has written on technology, travel, religion, and was a newspaper columnist on career, workforce, and business. Her writing appears in IrishCentral.com as a correspondent on topics related to the Irish Diaspora. Her photos and videos have been featured by CNN, CNN iReport, HLN, The New York Times Company, and the California Academy of Sciences. Walsh served as assistant professor of strategic communications and multimedia at St. Cloud State University. She holds a Master of Arts from Ohio University in photography, and Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Augsburg University. Higgledy Piggledy Stones: Family Stories from Ireland and Minnesota is her first published book.

Best wishes,
Jannet L. Walsh

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First book — Please find full details, summary, reviewer’s comments on my book page, Higgledy-Piggledy Stones.

Irish Diaspora Writing Project — Please see details and previous blogs and stories posted about my Irish Diaspora writing project at my project page, and learn about my grant from Southwest Minnesota Arts Council Artist Growth Grant, McKnight Foundation, 2022-2024.

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*Jannet L. Walsh of Murdock, Minnesota is a photographer, writer, and educator. She is the author of the of a creative nonfiction quest narrative “Higgledy-Piggledy Stones: Family Stories from Ireland and Minnesota,” publication October 24, 2023 by Shanti Arts Publishing. Walsh is recipient of a Southwest Minnesota Arts Council Growth Grant funded by the McKnight Foundation, 2022-2024, and a Minnesota State Arts Board, Creative Individuals Grant 2024. Follow Walsh on Facebook and Twitter, and on her other social media channels, with the hashtag #IrishFamilyHistoryDetective.