Alida Winternheimer

Alida Winternheimer is an award-winning writer, editor, and teacher. The creator of the Story Works Round Table podcast, the Story Works Fiction online school of creative writing, and developmental editor and writing coach at Word Essential, she has published two craft books, and multiple stories. Her short stories have been published in Water~Stone Review, Midwestern Gothic, Storm Cellar, and other journals. She is twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. An essay, published in Under the Sun, was named a notable essay in Best American Essays, 2022. She has won the Confluence Prize and an emerging artist grant from the Jerome Foundation, both for her fiction. With an MFA from Hamline University and an MLS from the University of Minnesota, Alida has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at both universities, as well as multiple community workshops, before founding her Story Works Fiction school. She has been a mentor and is currently an instructor with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. She volunteers with Helping Paws of Minnesota, a service dog nonprofit, and Inland Sea Kayakers.