Joy Riggs is an award-winning writer and editor based in Northfield, Minnesota, a quaint and historic two-college town located 50 miles south of Minneapolis and St. Paul. She specializes in writing about history, parenting, and travel.

Joy is the author of Crackerjack Bands and Hometown Boosters: The Story of a Minnesota Music Man, published in July 2019 by Nodin Press. The nonfiction book is about her quest to uncover the extraordinary exploits of her paternal great-grandfather, G. Oliver Riggs, a pioneering Minnesota music man. She blogs about the book project and her family’s adventures in making and appreciating music at mymusicalfamily.blogspot.com.

Her articles, columns and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including the Star Tribune, Minnesota Parent, Minnesota Monthly, Minnesota Good Age, StoryNews, BLUNTmoms, Grown and Flown, Topology Magazine, Peacock Journal, Mamalode, Great Moments in Parenting, AAA Living, the Carleton College Voice, and the Des Moines Register.

Joy is fascinated by Minnesota history, and, as a native of Alexandria, Minn., she truly wants to believe in the authenticity of the Kensington Runestone. 

Education 
Joy graduated magna cum laude and with college honors from Drake University in Des Moines. She has a bachelor's degree in news-editorial journalism, with a political science concentration.

Awards
• Recipient of emerging artist grant, Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, spring 2015 • First place, Best Magazine Column, 2013 Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists Page One Awards • Second place, Family Matters Column, Parenting Media Association’s 2011 Editorial Competition • Silver award, Best Magazine Column, Minnesota Magazine & Publishing Association’s Excellence Awards, 2013 • Second place, Best Magazine Column, 2010 Minnesota SPJ Page One Awards • Bronze award, Best Magazine Column, Minnesota Magazine & Publishing Association’s Excellence Awards, 2011 and 2010 • Third place, Best Magazine Column, 2014 Minnesota SPJ Page One Awards

Podcast/Radio Interviews 
• The Wayne Eddy Affair, KYMN, Joy Riggs, Aug. 16, 2019
• ArtZany! Radio with Paula Granquist, KYMN, Northfield Garden Club Tour & Author Joy Riggs, July 11, 2019
• ArtZany! Radio with Paula Granquist, KYMN, Writers Joy Riggs and Rob Hardy, January 20, 2017
• Deep in Bear Country; a Berenstain Bearcast, Episode 57: the Week at Grandma’s, July 2, 2016
• This Northfield Life with Brad Ness and Corey Butler, Joy Riggs interview, October 14, 2015 

Copy Editing and Writing Services
• Past and present clients include: • SERC, The Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College • the Northfield Historical Society • the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative • the Carleton College Voice • the Vintage Band Festival • NorthfieldHistorical; and the Northfield Youth Choirs

Professional memberships
• Society of Professional Journalists • the Minnesota SPJ Pro Chapter • the Association of Writers and Writing Programs • the Loft Literary Center

Volunteer work
• Joy serves on the board of the Vintage Band Festival, a nonprofit group that organizes a four-day international vintage music festival in Northfield every three years. The next one is set for August 1-4, 2019.
• Joy serves on the board of the Northfield Historical Society.
• Joy is the past president of the Northfield Fine Arts Boosters, a nonprofit volunteer group that works to promote and support fine arts programs in the Northfield Public Schools. She served on the Northfield Youth Choirs board from 2008-2014 and on the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative board from 2003-2013.

November 26, 2020, will be long remembered as the year of the pandemic Thanksgiving. The date coincided with another momentous occasion, but because of COVID-19, I wasn't able to celebrate it as I would have liked: it was the 150th birthday of my paternal great-grandfather, G. Oliver Riggs. 

This time last year, I had different plans in mind for marking G. Oliver's 150th birthday. I had hoped to host a book reading/birthday party in St. Cloud in mid- or late November, invite friends and family, serve cake, arrange for some live music — it would have been the type of event I have sorely missed during these weeks and months of the global pandemic. 

G. Oliver was born on Nov. 26, 1870, in Louisa County, Iowa.

What are you doing Oct. 3-4? I'm guessing you're not straying too far from home, in these COVID times, so why not join me at an online book festival? The Deep Valley Book Festival is going virtual this year, and it will offer a variety of panels and events over two days.

One year ago today, I hosted a launch party for my book and was blown away by the response. I'm feeling especially grateful tonight for all the people who packed the Grand Event Center in Northfield that evening to show their interest and support. Such an event would not be possible under current COVID-19 restrictions.

Happy almost book birthday!

My nonfiction book, Crackerjack Bands and Hometown Boosters: The Story of a Minnesota Music Man, officially entered the world of published books on July 1, 2019, which means it's almost 1 year old!

Time sure flies when COVID-19 prevents you from continuing your book tour. Since I can't have a big in-person reading event to celebrate this momentous occasion, I decided to record myself reading the first chapter of my book and share it with all of you.

COVID-19 shut down many of my plans for book events this spring and summer. Fortunately, the Northfield Public Library has come to the rescue by offering me the chance to do my planned book reading in a virtual format next week.

It's one of many reasons why we should support our public libraries! They are constantly adapting to the needs of their patrons.

Today at 3 p.m., my dad and my middle child both played Taps, 175 miles apart. It was a long-distance duet, of sorts; my dad played outside the apartment building where he and my mom live in Alexandria, for a physically distanced crowd of about 20 friends and neighbors, and Sebastian played from our front porch in Northfield, for the enjoyment of Steve, Elias, me, and anyone else in the neighborhood who happened to hear it.

Dad and Sebastian were not the only ones playing Taps today.

My great-grandfather would have loved knowing that he was the subject of Curt Brown's Minnesota History column in last Sunday's (April 12) Star Tribune, Riggs struck up band like few others. It was a boost to me, as well, to see G. Oliver Riggs and my book, Crackerjack Bands and Hometown Boosters, mentioned in the state's largest daily newspaper (and the country's seventh-largest, in terms of circulation).
4

I spent a few hours this afternoon cleaning out the bedroom that has served as my office since September, so Sebastian can reclaim it for the rest of the school year. I got sidetracked (no surprise) when I came across a fragile, musty photo album that a second cousin sent me many months ago. It appears to have belonged to my paternal great-grandmother, Islea.

I hadn't spent much time with the album when it arrived at my house because I was deep in revisions to my book at that time.

Three weeks ago — which seems like three years ago now — I was the featured guest at the monthly meeting of the Stillwater Woman's Reading Club. The group formed in 1886 and is the longest-operating woman-founded club in Minnesota. I was honored to be invited and had a marvelous time talking to its members about my book, Crackerjack Bands and Hometown Boosters: The Story of a Minnesota Music Man. During my presentation at St.

In my previous blog post, I mentioned that I wrote two different epilogues for my book, Crackerjack Bands and Hometown Boosters: The Story of a Minnesota Music Man. I ultimately decided against including either one in the final manuscript.

I wrote the second epilogue in October 2017, shortly after I had attended a writing retreat led by Minneapolis author/teacher/writing coach extraordinaire Kate Hopper.
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