2023 was extraordinary year for me, with so much to be thankful for. From the experimental publication of an original audio book (The Levee) in February to the more traditional publication of my newest stand-alone novel The River We Remember this past fall, it’s been a joyride, start to finish.
The Levee billboard in Times Square
Despite all my publication commitments this year, I did take time for important personal relaxation. We had a Minnesota winter straight out of Paul Bunyan stories, with hip deep snow and temperatures that could freeze your eyeballs. I was able to escape for a while to my favorite warm getaway spots—Galveston in January and Arizona in March, where my wife and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary. I love both the sea and the desert (though I love our great Northwoods most of all!).
Snow in Minnesota…
enjoying sun and surf in Galveston…
…and celebrating in Arizona!
It was a busy year for me hanging out with readers. Across the past twelve months, I’ve done nearly ninety speaking/signing engagements in more than twenty states—from Florida to California, from Texas to Connecticut. God, how I love being with the folks who appreciate my work. Honestly, their energy is part of what keeps me motivated.
Readers in Hood River, OR
The Kee Theatre in Kiester, MN
Of course, I spent a lot of time on my beloved bikes. We’re blessed in the Twin Cities with a great number of beautiful bike paths. They run along the mighty Mississippi, through lovely parks and woodlands, and even down quiet city streets. Exploring my hometown on two wheels allows me to see everything in a relaxed way, so that I notice so many of the small marvels that I might miss rushing past in a car. And it’s so damn healthy to boot.
Some of my best memories this year are of my trip to Alaska in August, my first time in our last great frontier. Calving glaciers, foraging bears, playful whale pods, mountains that reach to the sky—this is a landscape the Creator blessed with an abundance of all things marvelous. I can’t wait to return.
The year came to a close with the publication and tour for The River We Remember. I’ve been so grateful to see my novel make many best-of-the-year lists. But even as I was crossing the country for book-related books events, I was hard at work on the next novel in my Cork O’Connor series, Spirit Crossing. I’ll talk more about that in my posts for 2024.
As 2023 draws to a close, I’m filled with gratitude for what has been and with the eager anticipation of what awaits. I wish you all a joyous holiday season, and a wealth of blessings in the coming new year.
Readers in La Crescent, MN
Can’t wait for Spirit Crossing. Love, love, love all of your books
Loved reading this. Miss seeing you and your wife, but never miss reading your latest book. Thank you for so many hours of pleasure.
Thanks for sharing…your work and the days of your life. This sharing is an affirming experience, a good thing, and I’m grateful indeed. I wish you and those to whom you are close a happy, productive and fulfilling 2024.
The River We Remember was a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing it. I look forward to your next release. I have all your books on a shelf in our rental cabin on the shore of Lake Vermilion. Many leave a bookmark so they can pick up the story next year. Love it.
I live in St. Ignace, Michigan. It’s been very cold, but NOT a flake of snow!
Your books are amazing! Always looking forward to reading the next one! Glad you and your lovely wife had a great Christmas! Happy anniversary!
Congratulations on 50 years together! Wishing you a healthy year of joy and many blessings.
Best!
Krueger writes characters we love and identify with like no one else. His books get better and amazingly better as they come out. Keep them coming.
Congratulations on your 50th Wedding Anniversary. An amazing milestone. I am so looking forward to the new Cork O’Connor book. Do you know the release date? I hope there will be a large print edition available. It seems fewer books are being released in large print.
I want to thank you for providing me, and many others I’m sure, with hours and hours of excellent reading. Happy New Year and God Bless you and your family.
Love everything you do.
I really enjoyed your year end review of 2023. Congratulations on your 50th Anniversary. Looking forward to the new release of Spirit Crossing. I love your books and I just wish you and all of my other favorite authors could write faster.
You are #1 on my list of favorite authors.
I’m excited for the next Cork O’Conner book. Keep them coming. Also your stand alone as are my favorites, ordinary Grace and The River We Remember. I recommend them to all by book reading friends. Happy New Year. Blessings for a healthy peaceful and productive year
I loved A river We Remember! It is so worthy of all it’s accolades. It was fun sharing your travels across various states on your FB page. And I am excitedly waiting for Spirit Crossing! What a great year you’ve shared with us! Thank you!
Wishing you and your wife a joyous New Year! I can’t speak enough of the happiness and relaxation that your books bring me. (In between my thriller & horror reads) They are my pallet cleansers, my home state, my joy. While I love Cork, I am also very excited for what is to come with your independent novels. Enjoy our “autumnal” year end December.
Kent,
We loved “The River We Remember” & were ecstatic to be one of your 90 book events. Congrats to you on that & to both of you on 50 years!
Eagerly awaiting ”Spirit Crossing.” Love everything you write.
Can’t wait for your new book “Spirit Crossing”! All of your books are on our shelves unless someone is reading one. Enjoy sharing your books and turning people on to your writing, Looking forward to seeing you in 2024!
I’ve just finished Fox Creek and cannot wait for Spirit Crossing! I’ve also loved The River We Remember, This Tender Land and Ordinary Grace. Thanks for sharing the gift of your writing with.us!!
Thank you for your great books that I’ve read. Congratulations on your 50 years of marriage. Keep your eyes and mind on the future. Share what you think and see. We can’t wait for more.
I can’t wait for your new book, “Spirit Crossing”, another Cork O’Conner story. I really have enjoyed all of your books and consider you one of my favorite authors. Best wishes to you and your wife on your 50th Anniversary.
Thank you, I found you in 2023 and passed you onto my husband and the Knit and natter group at our local library and introduced you to our book group. I am really trying to get your name out here in the UK we love great adventure stories. Great photos looks like you had a great year. Happy 2024 and best wishes to you and your wife on 50 years married. I still have most of Cork O’Connor books read it’s makes me feel secure.
I love love love your books! In 2015, I shattered my leg in an accident. I had a rod, pins, plate and it was a long recovery! The beauty of the stories of the Boundary Waters helped me heal. Your books were great company as I was laid up in bed for quite some time. I loved The River We Remember, so lyrical and beautiful. And Ordinary Grace, I’m on my third reading. I see it’s spiritual depth even more each time I read. Looking forward to another Cork tale. Thank you for the wonderful stories!
I can’t begin to tell you how very much I have loved your Cork O’Connor books! ALL 19 of them have been such wonderful reads! Impossible to put down! I will anxiously be awaiting “Spirit Crossing”! Thank you!
I just want to say how much I love both your Cork O’Connor series and your standalone novels. Sitting down with one of your books always had such a lovely feeling of coming home – both the writing and the characters! I was hoping you might be able to answer a question for me. I just finished Red Knife and went straight into Heaven’s Keep. In Red Knife, Stevie’s age is 9 but in Heaven’s Keep, which takes place 1 1/2 years later, he is 13. I’m sure it’s obnoxious for me to bring this up but I was wondering if I missed something…
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy year, to spend an afternoon in Kiester this summer! We were truly blessed for you to be able to talk with all of us at the Kee Theatre in behalf of the Kiester Library. I have to say, your books were a hot item on the shelf before your visit, after the visit, they are even hotter! Take care, and happy writing! Best wishes for the new year to you and your wife!
I just read _the River I Remember. Incredible! I have read about 7 other books by WKK. Some of the best books I have read. I am 76 years old and in 2001 I was hired by Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI). I was a physician in their medical department for 3 years. I was amazed! My time with them opened my eyes to what Europeans have done and still do to Native Americans. I don’t know how much experience WKK has had with tribes other than the ones he writes about but if he has not spent time with MBCI he might find it interesting. There is almost none of the “hate” and other negative things between MCBI and other people that WKK writes about. I think that is primarily because of the man who was Chief for about 50 years until about 10 years ago. I read many books and other material about MBCI and other tribes during my 3 years there. I had a hard time understanding and believing how ignorant I was about how horribly Native Americans had been treated for centuries. I could go on and on but will end with this. I am very grateful that I had 2 major events in my first 6 years of life with Native Americans and 1 other minority person that caused me to have great love and respect for them. Whatever can be done to change all peoples’ attitudes and repent for what has been done (and make some kind of recompense) should be done.
Thank you so much for The River We Remember. I finished it just before Christmas and am still ruminating over the character development and plot, and your overall skill. A great sign when weeks later I am still thinking about various story twists, and hoping certain characters had a good rest of their lives. What a great book club selection with all the issues around racial prejudice, women in abusive relationships, post-war trauma, love and loyalty. As I read the book I (former MN-tan) and then your website and blogs, we have been nearly colliding since I used to write at the St. Clair Broiler myself. Next time in town, I’ll look for you there. Now–back to those mysteries, and thank you again.
Your novels and stories always touch my heart in so many ways. From Ordinary Grace to The River We Remember, along with 3 others, I was immediately drawn to your beautiful characters and how they dealt with life’s struggles but also the good times. In my 35 years of teaching English, I was very selective in the books I taught and read out loud. I regret not being familiarized with your work until after retirement. Your writing would have been in my curriculum; I can only imagine what meaningful discussions we could have enjoyed!
Your plots, character development, word choices and overall messages and themes would have made for quite the learning experiences!! Looking forward to your next novels—I won’t be skipping by any of them!
I love your books, Mr. Krueger, and collect them all. You are an amazing author and your books speak the soul of Minnesota. Can you please put The Levee out in hardcover format? As your readers get older, we still want a book in our hands, not only because we’ve got alittle “old school” in us, but because our concentration isnt as good as we age. It is hard to follow an audiobook on its own. Just please dont overlook your older readers. Thank you for the stories you share with all of us. God has given you an incredible gift.
I’ve probably read at least a dozen of your books and so enjoyed them, but This Tender Land is one of my favorite books ever! In fact, after I read it, I recommended it to my bookclub, and then read it again and loved it even more the second time.
I have a question for you. Did you ever live in Lima Ohio?
I love your books and eagerly await each new release. I would love to see you come to the Pittsburgh area.
I picked up The River We Remember, on a whim. I never read your books before and was looking for a good read. Well!! Since then, I’ve started my collection of William Kent Krueger books. I am hooked! You have a fan for life!
Love everything you’re written and the audio book too. I always read the previous book again when a new one comes out. Can hardly wait to see what happens next for Cork and his family and Henry. ♥️
Thanks for your many books.
Congratulations on your anniversary. My husband and I just celebrated 60. Wonderful to have that kind of relationship. Looking forward to your next book.
Kent, I went through the St Paul citizens Police academy with you and I worked at Como RX where you filled your prescriptions. I had no idea you were the author of the best books I had found. I would love to hear from you. Happy anniversary and I hope you are doing well. God bless for all the joys you provide in our lives.
when will Spirit Crossing come out????? I am having withdrawals.
I have read all but the last two books of his. A great author and story teller. I was fortunate to meet him in St Anthony Village Mn. I am from Roseville Mn, now living in Las Vegas, missing the tales of Cork O Conor. Best wishes to you