Loft Literary Center names Britt Udesen as new director

They looked far and wide, but in the end, the folks at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis chose a born-and-bred Minnesotan to replace Jocelyn Hale. Hale announced in January that she was stepping down as executive director of the Loft, one of the nation's largest and busiest literary centers.

Britt Udesen, 39, who heads the Cabin literary center in Boise, Idaho, grew up in Duluth and in St. Paul suburbs, graduated from Macalester College, and is the great-granddaughter of a former Sunday editor for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. She will start her "dream job" of running the Loft in September.

"The Twin Cities are such an incredible hotbed of arts and artists, and Minnesota is a state that supports arts and artists," Udesen said Monday. "That's an incredibly exciting opportunity.

"And it feels like home."

The Loft began in the 1970s in a Dinkytown bookstore owned by Marly Rusoff. In the early days, it hosted readings by the likes of Robert Bly, and offered writing workshops led by Jim Moore, Patricia Hampl and Michael Dennis Browne.

Now housed in Open Book, 1011 Washington Av. S., it has an annual budget of nearly $2 million, hosts hundreds of readings and classes a year (in-person and online), administers grants and provides writing spaces and a performance hall.

The Loft staff screened about 75 applicants for the job of executive director before sending the top names to its search committee, which then interviewed eight candidates.

"She has formidable qualities of leadership that loom larger and larger as you spend time with her. She's thoughtful, inspiring, very funny, a great strategist, a skilled listener, calm, creative and a dedicated fan of writing and literature."

Udesen has served as executive director of the Cabin literary center for 2 ½ years, and before that worked at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts in Ketchum, Idaho. She moved to Idaho for the trout fishing and hiking, which she learned to love in Minnesota. "I love the North Shore. I don't know if I could pick a river, but the Poplar was my dad's favorite," she said. "And I spent summers on the Brule River in Wisconsin."

The 20-year-old Cabin is smaller than the Loft, with an annual budget of about $500,000. During her tenure, Udesen worked to build collaborative programs with other artistic organizations, including Storyfort, four days of literary events held during the annual Treefort Music Festival in Boise.

"I don't want to leave. It's incredibly heartbreaking," she said. "Except when your dream job opens up, you've got to give it a try."

Udesen is not a writer herself — she has taught bookmaking and printmaking at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts — but she says she believes strongly in the importance and power of stories.

She also is interested in continuing and possibly expanding the Loft's work with young writers. The Cabin has an extensive Writers in the Schools program, employing local writers to serve as mentors for students in grades 3 through 12.

Udesen will be in the Cities Aug. 21-22 for the Loft's 40th anniversary weekend, "40 for 40." She will begin her job in mid-September, right around the time she turns 40.

"The Loft and I are having the same birthday," she said.

Laurie Hertzel • 612-673-7302. On Twitter: @StribBooks