In Sept. 2016, Norma received the Heritage Education Commission Annual Beverly Paulson Family History Award in the Memoirs Category for her book Scoria Roads!.
"Missing My Best Friend" has been accepted into the National Bereavement Resource List on their website.
"This book is now a collectible item."
Norma Thorstad Knapp grew up in western North Dakota, Idaho, and Oregon. Her family moved often, giving her a rich foundation for writing. After college, she worked as a registered nurse, educator, crisis counselor, youth specialist, and bereavement facilitator in cities in North Dakota, Texas, and Minnesota. She has published numerous stories, essays and poems; several short stories and a sermon have won awards. Her days are full with reading, writing, traveling, time with grandchildren, creating note cards, and hospice volunteer bereavement work. She has a grown daughter and son and four grandchildren.
I have had several short stories, poems, and essays published in various publications - locally, regionally, and nationally. Two of my stories have won awards: 1) the Carol Bly Award in Nonfiction for my story "The Showing" in Dust and Fire, a university literary journal, and 2) a Top Ten Award for my story "The Tipping of the Pontoon" in Minnesota's Lakes Alive magazine. A few years ago, I was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship by Minnesota's Region Two Arts Council; and about 10 years ago, I was chosen for and attended the Minneapolis' renown Loft Literary Center's Master Writer Program.