Northern Focus is a project conceived by the Fargo Public Library for regional photographers with the aim to provide a free space, for artist and viewer alike, to showcase up-and-coming or recreational photographers and share local perspectives.
The library is hosting the fourth annual Northern Focus photography project this spring. We are asking photographers from the region to send us their best work to grace our downtown location in a photo exhibit. One lucky artist will get their photograph on the front cover of Northern Narratives 2023. We are accepting online submissions from April 3 through May 31, 2023 via our Wufoo link. The program is open to adults and teens 13 years and older.
See all of the Northern Focus 2023 Rules, Guidelines, and Information here. Contact Nicole at 701.476.5974 for further information.
• There is no fee to enter the Northern Focus photography project. Entries can be of any photographic medium (color, digital, manipulated, etc.).
• All photos must be taken regionally (within ND/MN) and convey a sense of the people, places, and/or happenings that make up our great and diverse community, and convey a sense of the people, places, and/or happenings that make up and represent our diverse community and region.
• Submitted photos must be suitable for community viewing as determined by the library.
• All accepted photo entries will be included in a photography exhibit at the downtown Main Library later this year. In addition, one photo will be chosen as the cover art for the library's 2023 Northern Narratives publication.
The Northern Focus photography project is supported by the Friends of the Fargo Public Library.
Northern Narratives 2022 is the library’s sixth publication of poems, essays, and short stories produced by local and regional authors. It is available at all three library locations for check out, or it can be read online. Please note that the cover art (titled Milky Way and Meteor) for this book was by photographer Gordon Court and submitted as part of the Northern Focus 2022 photography project.
Northern Narratives Jr. is the library's kids-only, literary magazine. This anthology is available to be read online and features over 50 entries of poems, nonfiction essays, short stories, drawings, photographs, and comics written and created by school-age children from the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo community in the spring of 2022. Categories had first and second place winners, and some categories also had honorable mentions, as judged by the Fargo Public Library Children's Services Staff. Winners works are indicated by an asterisk.*
Please note: Transcription of each piece is taken directly from the original work, so any creative spelling, grammar, or formatting is considered intentional by the artist.
Northern Narratives 2021 is the library’s fifth publication of poems, essays and short stories produced by local and regional authors. It is available at all three library locations for check out, or it can be read online. Please note that the cover art (titled The Wild Mist) for this book was by photographer Brittani Hovland and submitted as part of the Northern Focus 2021 photography project.
Northern Narratives Jr. is the library's first ever, kids-only, literary magazine. It is available to be read online and features poems, nonfiction essays, short stories, drawings, photographs, and comics written and created by school-age children from the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo community in the spring of 2021. Each category had first and second place winners as judged by the Fargo Public Library Children's Services Staff. Winning works are indicated by an asterisk.*
Please note: Transcription of each piece was taken directly from the original work, so any creative spelling, grammar, or formatting is considered intentional by the artist.
Northern Narratives 2020 is the library’s fourth publication of poems, essays and short stories produced by local and regional authors. It is available at all three library locations for check out, or it can be read online. Please note that the cover art (titled Home in the Middle of Nowhere) for this book was by photographer Hannah Borsheim submitted as part of the inaugural Northern Focus photography project.
Northern Narratives 2019 is the library’s third publication of poems, essays and short stories produced by local and regional authors. It is available at all three library locations for check out, or it can be read online.
Northern Narratives 2018 is the library’s third publication of poems, essays and short stories produced by local and regional authors. It is available at all three library locations for check out, or it can be read online.