J. Ryan Stradal

Much like his book, Kitchens of the Great Midwest, this lecture is a deeply personal love letter to J. Ryan Stradal's native Minnesota. Stradal talks about his decision to feature the working-class Midwesterners he grew up with, who are so rarely portrayed in books and media. He also shines the spotlight on his book’s other hero—traditional Midwestern cuisine, often misunderstood and always underrated. Generous and funny, this lecture resonates with audiences far beyond the Midwest.

Whether it's a restaurant, a brewery, a nursing home, or the north woods during hunting season, the locations in my books attract and evolve communities of all kinds. Community is the forge of drama, and the friendships, relationships, and conflicts that couldn't exist anywhere else can tell stories that can give any location resonance to readers. While my work is often focused on communities that appear specific, their narratives and themes are universal, and it's my pleasure to talk about how many of the communities I've been a part of in my own life (such as my fourteen years producing reality TV shows) inspires the communities I write about today.

J. Ryan Stradal didn't take a typical path to becoming a novelist. He doesn't have an MFA and instead majored in Radio, TV, and Film as an undergraduate. He spent about 15 years producing reality and unscripted TV—an experience that taught him a lot about storytelling and how editing can help a writer chisel away at noise to reveal a story’s essence.

Even before he sat down to write the first page of his book, J. Ryan Stradal knew he needed to have an unusual structure to his novel. He wrote the final menu early on, and wanted each of the chapters to add an ingredient and character to that final meal. Stradal talks about how and why he chose this structure and the various reasons he felt it was was he needed to tell the story of a successful chef's early life and subsequent rise to fame.