Maureen Aitken

Maureen Aitken is the recipient of the Nilsen Prize for her collection of stories, The Patron Saint of Lost Girls. The collection earned a Kirkus Star and three Pushcart Prize nominations. The book is also a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award. She has also won the Minnesota State Arts Board’s Artist Initiative Grant, the Loft Mentor Award, an award in Ireland’s Fish Short Story Prize, and a grant from the SASE/Jerome Foundation. Stories in her collection have been published in journals such as Prairie Schooner, The Journal, Puerto del Sol and the international anthology, The Bering Strait and Other Stories. She teaches writing in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota, where she received her MFA degree.