J Ryan Stradal

J. Ryan Stradal is the author of New York Times bestseller Kitchens of the Great Midwest and national bestseller The Lager Queen of Minnesota. His debut, Kitchens of the Great Midwest, has been translated into twelve languages, and also won the American Booksellers Association Indie's Choice Award for Adult Debut Book of the Year, the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association award for fiction, and the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award for debut fiction. The Lager Queen of Minnesota, his second novel, was an instant bestseller, won the 2020 WILLA Award for the year's best contemporary fiction, and was a finalist for the 2020 Heartland Booksellers Award. His shorter writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Granta, Hobart, The Rumpus, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other places. Born and raised in Minnesota, he now lives in California with his family, where he enjoys sports, wine, craft beer, and peas.

J. Ryan can be found at jryanstradal.com.

Charitable Organization: 826LA

Praise

"An impressive feat of narrative jujitsu. . . that keeps readers turning the pages too fast to realize just how ingenious they are."—The New York Times Book Review, Editor's Pick

"This is a book that made me want to have a more full and colorful life, a life with cookbooks and a well-used kitchen, and to delight at all the goodness that can be put in front of us.”—Los Angeles Review of Books

“A sweet and savory treat.” —People